Growing Problems
by NatashaNikolova
Summary: With a birthday extravaganza looming over everyone's head that has the potential to destroy more lives than commemorate the birth of one of the most influential young royals, Rose is faced with an impossible situation: unleash a secret that could usurp the Moroi government as she knows it or lose what she values most in a life in which she has sacrificed so much.
1. Prologue

**AN:**

**Hi everyone! I'm so glad you decided to give this story a try. I know there are other stories out there that follow a similar story line, but I greatly appreciate the fact that you decided to give my story a try anyway. I decided to embark on this particular story line because I've been looking for a story like this for a while, but I haven't found anything I haven't previously read, so I thought I might as well write a story of my own. I hope you guys enjoy it. **

**For those of you who are fans of my other story, **_**Can You Say Weird**_**, I haven't given up on it, I'm just experiencing a little bit of writer's block. I'll update as soon as that phase passes, but until then I hope you enjoy this!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own VA or any of its characters. I do however, wish I owned Dimitri, but I unfortunately don't. Sigh****. I do own any character(s) that may be new to you though. Hope you enjoy. R&R**

_****The prologue is set a month after the attack on the academy. Everything Richelle Mead wrote up until that point still happened. Expect Dimitri being turned.** **_

As I made my way from my dorm room to my before school practice with Dimitri, I couldn't help but notice the morose quality to the air. It's the type of doom and gloom feeling you get right before something horrible happens. It's the gut feeling you get when something you are powerless to stop is about to rip your life to pieces.

And that's why my steps faltered as I passed a giant coniferous tree ten feet from the gym. I had no idea what was going to happen, but I absolutely knew beyond a reasonable doubt that things would not end well for me today.

With that thought I slowly walked into the gym. As I entered my eyes had to adjust to the darkness that wrapped around me like a blanket. It was so dark that I couldn't see my hands in front of me. I couldn't see anything.

That's odd because Dimitri is normally always here before I am. With that thought I called into the darkness for him. "Dimitri." My voice sounded like a whisper. "Are you in—"

Again my eyes had to make an adjustment as the room was flooded with light.

When I opened my eyes I saw Dimitri in all his six seven glory crossing the gym and making his way over to me. As usual he had his shoulder length brown hair tied back in a ponytail. He always wore it that way during our practice sessions. In our line of work letting the enemy get a hold of your hair could be detrimentally fatal.

He came to stand in front of me and looked directly into my eyes. Or maybe he was looking into my soul because every time he looks at me I get the feeling that he's looking through me. And this time is no different.

We just stood there staring at one another for what felt like hours. He was the one to break the visual trance we had both been in, but not in the way I expected. I expected him to order me to do my stretches and then go do my laps, but instead he pulled me into him and wrapped his strong arms around my waist.

Before I could think of a witty joke, or ask him what had gotten into him this morning, his lips were on mine fast and hard. This kiss held so much passion I thought I would pass out, but I was definitely not complaining because normally I'm the one who breaks protocol and initiates the kisses, but this time it was him.

Not only did this kiss hold passion, it was filled with love. Yearning. Lust. Desperation. Then it was gone as Dimitri's lips left mine allowing us both to calm our labored breathing and pounding hearts.

"What was that for," I ask. "I haven't done anything spectacular enough in the past week to deserve that kind of kiss," I say, making a joke of the situation.

He gave me a ghost of a smile and took a couple of steps away from me. He then turned serious, and I was sure he was going to tell me to get started on my stretches and laps, but instead he said, "I love you so much, Rose. I love you so much it hurts."

That was completely unexpected, but I responded nonetheless. "I know, and I love you too." I was completely confused because I didn't know where any of this was coming from. Then I though back to the desperation in the kiss. It didn't lead me to any answers, but it did unfortunately add to my confusion.

His eyes drank in my body as if he was committing it to memory. Then he spoke. "You should probably sit down." He had on his guardian mask and his tone was even, but there was so much emotion in his eyes. So much so that I couldn't identify any one thing. I honestly don't know how it's possible to feel so much at once.

Then I thought about his words: _you should probably sit down_. The only time people used that phrase was when they were about to deliver bad news. Bad news they know you're going to have a sour reaction to. This couldn't be good. And the morbid feeling that dissipated while kissing Dimitri returned full force. Stronger than it was before.

"I'll stand," I reply, somehow wishing that by standing the severity of his news will lessen. My tone was just as bland as his.

He looked into my eyes willing me to understand the non-understandable. His eyes sent me a thousand messages at once: that he was sorry, that he loved me, that he wished I could understand, that he hoped I would someday forgive him, and regret.

That last emotion broke my heart because in that moment I knew what he was trying to tell me. It was with that thought that I took in his attire. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. There was nothing wrong with how he looked. To be honest he looked just as gorgeous as ever, but his attire. It wasn't right. It didn't say _I'm about to fight my girlfriend and teach her how to kill Strigoi_. It said something entirely different.

He must have seen the understanding flash across my face or in my eyes. Honestly, it doesn't matter because he had seen it, and in that moment I wished I had taken his advice and sat down because right now it feels like me entire world is crashing down and I'm falling with it. Standing hadn't lessened the severity of the news, or the pain I would feel for that matter. Quite frankly, I think it made things worse. "Rose, I'm sorry." This time he slipped up and I heard the hurt and anguish in his voice.

I wanted to yell, scream, and kick something, but I didn't. Instead, I put my guardian mask to work. I refused to show him how much he'd hurt me. How heart broken I was, I am. "Do you love her?" My own voice surprised me because it was steady and strong. I think it surprised him too because he flinched.

The more I thought about it I realized it hadn't been the steadiness of my voice that shocked him. It had been my question. "Who," he asked as if he didn't know what or whom I was talking about. Or maybe that isn't something he wants to think about, but my mind wouldn't allow me to think that way because I wanted an answer. I gave him a hard look and something in him cracked under my stare. "I made this decision because I love you."

With that something in _me _cracked.

I walked over to him and looked him right in his eyes, willing my guardian mask to stay in place. "There is no way you made this decision because you _love _me. If you really loved me like you say you do, if you really 'love me so much it hurts'…" I say, using his earlier words against him, "…you wouldn't be doing this to me. You wouldn't have slept with me, told me you loved me afterward, and then do this." I think it shocked us both that I was keeping my tone down. "You don't love me. The only person you love is yourself. That's why you made this decision because you could get something out of it." I knew my words were completely unfair, but I was hurting, and I wanted to hurt him the way he'd hurt me.

"Rose, you know that's not true." When I said something had cracked in him earlier I wasn't kidding. It had been his self control because within seconds he had me pinned up against the wall. I tried my best not to look in his eyes, but he made that impossible when he lifted my chin up. In his eyes I saw the regret I had earlier, but there was a new emotion there too. Anger.

I don't know what he had to be angry about. He wasn't the one having his heart broken. That just made me angrier, but I tried my best not to show it to him.

"I. Love. You." His voice held every bit of the anger I had seen in his eyes. "I'm doing this because _I _love _you_," he nearly yelled, his tone expressed how ridiculous he found my claim that he only loved himself. "You don't know how hard it is to walk away from you. I don't want to, but I have to, so that's what I'm going to do." With that the anger and fight left him. "I don't love her. I don't even plan on—"

I interrupted him by raising my hand. I honestly, had and have no interest in hearing what he had to say next. I remember something he once told me. It was a while ago, to be exact it was during our stay at the ski lodge in Idaho. At the time it pissed me off, but now that I have a use for it it doesn't seem so…well useless. "What happens between you and Tasha is none of my business." I tried to muster the same tone he used when he said that line to me.

I didn't wait to see his reaction. I just pushed past him and hurried to the door because remembering that line also made me remember something else.

I told him he could and should take Tasha's offer. The fact that I gave him permission to do so hurt more than anything else because it made me responsible for my own heart break.

"Rose," he called after me. "I'm—"

Again I interrupted him. "Have a nice life, Dimitri."

And with that I walked away from the gym. Away from him. Away from my heart. Out of his life. Forever.

**I hope you guys like my fanfic. I really enjoyed writing it. Tell me what you guys think. **

**Did you like it. Hate it. Let me know in a review. **

**R&R**

**Sorry for any grammatical mistakes you may have come across while reading this story.**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N:  
>Firstly, I want to thank everyone who gave my story a chance. Secondly, I want to thank all of you who gave me good feedback and urged me to continue on with this story. Thirdly, I want to thank everyone who added this story to herhis (although I'm sure all of you were female) favorite stories list, story alert list, and everyone who added me to their favorite author's list and author alert list. Thank you all again!**

**If at any point during the continuation of this story you have questions, concerns, criticism, or ideas, please, please, please let me know!**

**In the mean time R&R!**

**Please review! It makes me very happy to hear what you all have to say!**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, except the story line or any new character(s) introduced. **

I was woken up not by my alarm clock, not even the smell of breakfast. But by a wave of excitement so strong I was looking down upon myself when my eyes opened. Now that's weird, and not a very pleasant way to wake up—the excitement not withstanding.

It took me a few groggy moments to realize the excitement wasn't my own. It belonged to my best friend, and Spirit user, Lissa. We share a physic bond which allows me to feel her emotions—in this case excitement, over what, I'm not entirely sure—and occasionally travel into her head when she's experiencing an emotion or feeling strongly, like now for instance.

Once this realization seized me I snapped out of Lissa's head because she no doubt wanted to tell me about something. She _was_ hovering over me. And waking me up at…_four thirty in the morning_.

"Good God, Liss. Couldn't this wait until waking hours," I said, peering over at my alarm clock again, eyes bulging, to make sure my still sleepy eyes weren't playing tricks on me.

"Rose, guess what," she nearly squealed, happiness radiating off her.

I rolled over onto my side and let my head hit the pillow. "Can this wait a few more hours?" My voice was muffled due to my head's new position. I didn't want to play the guessing game with Lissa right now. I wanted to sleep.

My body obviously wanted the same thing because in a matter of moments my eyes had drifted shut and I swear I head myself snoring—if that's even possible, I guess I'm a light sleeper.

At least until Lissa began shaking me out of my short lived slumber. Well, that answers that question. This won't be waiting until a reasonable hour.

With that I threw my legs over the side of the bed lugging the rest of my body with them. I turned my body to face Lissa and gave her my undivided attention. She was still beaming with joy.

She clapped her hands and jumped up and down like a kid in a candy store. "Guess what," she said in a singsong like voice.

I frowned and tried to search her mind so I could put an end to this ridiculous situation quickly and go back to sleep. _Tried_ being the operative word. Because I couldn't get in her head. She was blocking me. I wish she hadn't learned to do that. This is going to take a lot longer than I thought.

Her smile broadened because she knew what I had just tried to do. "No, no, no," she said, shaking her head at me. "Play fair."

I smacked my hand to my forehead. "Liss, can you please just tell me."

She narrowed her eyes in thought. She stayed that way for so long I thought she wasn't going to tell me. Then she finally broke. "My birthday is next month," she said, breaking the silence with a devious smile. She's definitely been hanging around Christian too much—and me too, although I hate to admit it—if she can do that.

Wait. Did she just wake me up—at four thirty in the morning no less—to tell me something I already knew?

I narrow my eyes at her, but mine aren't narrowed in thought like hers were just moments prior. Instead of replying I roll back into bed and pull the covers over my head begging sleep to befall.

Of course Lissa wasn't having any of that. "Rose, you're not being reasonable," she whined, pulling my covers off the bed, dropping them to the floor, leaving me cold.

She woke me up at four thirty in the morning to tell me her birthday is _next month_—like I didn't already know that—but I'm the one being unreasonable. I didn't voice those sentiments however. I opted for, "It's too early in the damn morning to be _reasonable_," I say, using every bit of the whinny tone she had. I knew I was being mean and childish, but I'm sleepy and I want, no need, to go back to bed.

She frowned and sat beside me on the bed pulling me into a sitting position. Normally she wouldn't have been able to do that, but my body was limp due to how tired I was. Once she was satisfied I wouldn't topple over and go to sleep on her she let go and looked me directly in the eyes. She wasn't going to use compulsion on me; she wouldn't do that. She just wanted to be face to face and eye to eye.

"Rose, would you please just listen. I wasn't even done yet."

"Fine," I reply, "but what was up with you and the devious smile," I say, making light of her earlier expression.

"I knew that if I told you my birthday was next month it would piss you off. I just wanted to have a little fun," she says. "Plus, your reaction was amusing."

I rolled my eyes at that. "So, this isn't about your birthday," I say, trying but failing to raise an eyebrow. After all these years I still couldn't manage it.

"Oh, no. It is definitely about my birthday," she says, all of her earlier excitement returning.

"But this couldn't wait until four thirty _in the afternoon_ a month from now," I joke.

She smiles at my joke. "No, it couldn't."

"So what's so important that you had to wake me up so early?" As I said this I glanced over at my alarm clock and it read: five twenty-two. So much for getting much more rest. I'm sure this is going to take a while longer, plus I have to be up at seven o'clock every morning. Yeah, I won't be getting an adequate night's sleep.

Lissa began imitating her earlier actions. Except since she isn't standing she had to settle for clapping her hands and _bouncing _up and down. "We're going to be celebrating my twenty-second birthday in style," she practically yelled. I wouldn't be surprised if she woke up the entire house by the end of this conversation—if she hasn't done so already.

That peaked my interest. "How so," I ask.

"Well," she said, dragging the word out. "We get the rest of today to pack, and we leave bright and early tomorrow night."

"And where might we be going?" I ask, not bothering to ask why we were leaving tomorrow night and not tomorrow morning. Morning for vampires is night time for humans and night time for vampires is day time for humans. So by leaving tomorrow "night" we will be reducing the possibility of Strigoi attacks to basically nothing.

The court guardians have obviously thought this through, which means Lissa had to have gone to them—or most likely the Moroi Queen, Tatiana—with the idea a while ago. How she hid this from me for however long she did is beyond me.

_Brace yourself _she sent mentally through the bond. I forget sometimes she can send me messages that way. That's not fair because I can't send them back. Stupid one-way bond. "Once we leave we'll be staying in South Beach for a week. Then once that week is complete, we head to a private island my parents owned off the coast of Florida for a three week stay."

As soon as Lissa said the words 'South Beach' and 'staying' 'for a week', my excitement level spiked and went through the roof. When she said 'private island' and 'three week stay', I thought I was going to topple over. Not from lack of sleep though. From an excitement high.

We hadn't been to a beach since Lissa and I had run away from St. Vladimir's Academy for two years. Our time on the beach was short but it was fun. But now that we were going to be going to Miami without the fear of being captured by authorities, we could really have, not a good time, but a great time—the kind of great time you tell your grandkids about years later.

Plus, not only is Miami renowned for South Beach, it's famous for it's great night life activity, which is perfect for us because that's when vampires come out to play due to the Moroi's sun sensitivity.

However, it also means the guardians will have to be extra careful because Miami is the perfect city for Strigoi to be lurking in. They can't go out in the sun what so ever, so Miami's night scene is perfect for them. There are lots of potential 'meals' during that time of day.

I'm sure the court guardians are aware of this. I know that for a fact. _'…we'll be staying in South Beach for a week. Then…we head to a private island…for a three week stay,' _Lissa had said.

Yep, the guardians were definitely aware. They planned the trip that way for a reason. To make sure we had enough time to enjoy ourselves, but to also minimize danger. That's why we'll only be staying in South Beach for a week. It's too risky to be there any longer, especially with the Dragomir princess in tow.

We were allotted a three week stay on the island because of its privacy. It will be easy to secure. We can lay wards around the place we're staying and have guardians on patrol—it won't raise suspicion when the only people on the island were raised in the vampire world. It will also be off the radar for Strigoi. The island doesn't have a high concentration of people because no one lives there. The only people who know about the island are the Dragomirs and seeing as how Lissa is the only one left and she hasn't been to the island since she was little, it hasn't seen any activity in quite some time. There is no need for the Strigoi to know about an island that is never inhabited, which makes it the perfect vacationing place for the Dragomir princess and her friends.

Those thoughts sobered me up because not only am I Lissa's best friend, but I'm her guardian too. During this trip it's my job as her best friend to make sure she has the time of her life. As her guardian, it's my job to ensure she remains safe and unharmed. It's not a tall task or asking too much of me because let's face it, it's my job. That realization didn't take away from how much fun I envisioned having, but it did make me take this trip a lot more seriously. I had to make sure I balanced fun with responsibility.

Lissa must have seen me drift from cloud nine a little bit. "What's wrong," she asked, "aren't you excited about the trip." I could feel through the bond she was a little sad I wasn't as happy as she was. She finally stopped blocking me from her mind and thoughts.

I slipped into best friend mode. Like I said, you have to learn a balance. You have to know when to be a best friend, and when to be a guardian. "Liss, we are definitely going to have the time of our lives," I exclaim. She brightened significantly now that she knew I actually was thrilled about the trip. I switched over to guardian mode. "But it's still my duty to protect you. And that's what I'm going to do: I'm going to ensure your safety during your little birthday extravaganza."

She smiled. "I know," she says. "And I trust you with my life."

"You don't have a choice. I'm your guardian, remember," I joke.

She playfully smacks me in the arm. "Alright, guardian," she replies with a smile, "either go back to sleep or start packing." With that she rose from my bed and headed for the door.

I flounce back on my bed. "I'm going back to sleep. Packing can wait."

Lissa shakes her head at me and reaches a hand out for the door knob.

"Un hey, Liss," I call after her.

She turns to look at me and I point to the floor. "Oh, sorry, Rose," she says, and tosses me my covers she threw on the floor while attempting to wake me up. "She you in an hour."

With that she walked out of my room and closed the door behind her as I looked to my alarm clock again. Sure enough it said it was six o'clock. "Damn it," I mutter. "I better sleep fast."

**Hey guys. Well, here's chapter one. Tell me what you think. **

**I know Dimitri wasn't in it or even mentioned, but I did that for a reason. I felt that if I brought him up too quickly then my story would be moving too fast, and I don't want that. I want the pace to be just right. **

**I was going to make this chapter longer, but then I decided this was a good place to stop. **

**If there are any questions please let me know. I'm working on the next chapter now. **

**Oh, and don't worry all of my **_**"Can You Say Weird"**_** fans, I haven't abandoned that story. I just need more ideas for Rose's revenge. As soon as my writer's block has lifted I'll be busy typing away. **

**Oh, and sorry for any mistakes you may have encountered while reading this story. **

**R&R. PLEASE!**

**If anyone has any ideas for this story you can share them. I'm open to incorporating them, but I can't do that if I don't know what you guys are thinking. **


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N:  
>If at any point during the continuation of this story you have questions, concerns, criticism, or ideas, please, please, please let me know!<strong>

**In the mean time R&R!**

**Please review! It makes me very happy to hear what you all have to say!**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, except the story line or any new character(s) introduced. **

This time I awoke to the sound of my blaring alarm clock and the smell of bacon frying in a pan. Breakfast smelled delicious, but I was in no mood to make the trek downstairs. I didn't want to get out of bed thanks to Lissa's early morning rendezvous.

But, I didn't have a choice. I was a guardian now, and I had rules to abide by. Lissa was content to let me sleep as long as I wanted, but I knew I couldn't do that. If I want to provide adequate protection I have to be up when she's up. That's why I have a set time to get up every morning and other rules I put in place to follow. They keep me in check. But most importantly, they keep her alive and well.

That's why despite my tiredness, I turned my noisy alarm clock off and climbed out of bed. I would have plenty of time to rest later—as long as Lissa didn't get any more exciting early morning news.

I showered and dressed hastily. I wore comfortable black denim jeans that would be perfect to fight in. The jeans weren't ragged or battered, but they wouldn't win me a fashion contest either. My shirt was just a simple red v-neck tank top that didn't show too much cleavage. It—like my jeans—was comfortable, stylish, but not over the top glamorous. Once I put on my red running shoes and concealed my stake and gun, I headed downstairs guided by the aroma of bacon, eggs, pancakes, and sausage.

I fell into step behind Eddie once I began descending the grand spiral staircase. It coiled its way from the basement to the third floor of Lissa and Christian's elegant mansion. The entire staircase is made of wood the same hue of red as a ripe cherry. When Lissa first showed me the floor plans for her ideal dream home I thought the red wood of the staircase would conflict with the otherwise dark cherry wood of the rest of the home, but I was wrong. They actually complement each other quite well. Both are polished so exquisitely that you can see your reflection in them as well as if you were looking in a mirror—it's the type of wood reflected image that only the rich can afford.

When you're walking down the grand staircase looking at your perfect red image you feel as though you're about to enter a grand ballroom where a private event is being hosted for the top tiers of society. It doesn't matter what you are wearing or what your hair looks like—you look perfect, feel perfect, and feel important. This staircase just has a regal air about it and it makes those who amble down it feel royal even if just for a few minutes.

The dark cherry wood that layers the floors of the rest of the house has a different feel to it. The wood is so dark and finely polished that it looks like obsidian glass. It doesn't make you feel regal; it makes you feel like you are dancing on black ice. Like black ice, it looks sturdy, but it seems as if it will crack at a moments notice if you place too much pressure on it. It's like a ballroom dance floor. It's too immaculate to walk across so you gracefully glide and dance atop its surface.

And that's how the two seemingly contradictory woods complement each other. Each evoke different storylines that when put together create one complete story. The regal staircase is where you descend to the party as royalty and the dark cherry wood is the obsidian ballroom where the rest of the story takes place.

Taking in Eddie's image produced by the red wood of the staircase I brought myself back to reality and left my thoughts of regal staircases and ballroom dance floors behind.

Eddie is Christian's guardian. He was assigned to him after all the newly graduated novices arrived at court. I, of course, was assigned to Lissa. Being their guardians, we moved in with them once Lissa had their dream house constructed at court. I was shocked Tatiana let Lissa have it built because I'm positive it's the nicest abode here. I've seen where Tatiana lives and it's nice, but nowhere near as nice as Lissa's and Christian's house.

This mansion has three floors and a basement equip with a game lodge, movie theater, three swimming pools with ten feet tall waterslides, four Jacuzzis, five bedrooms, and a gym. Eddie got lucky and ended up with a bedroom on the second floor. When we fist moved in I tried to convince Lissa to let me live down in the basement because honestly who wouldn't want to live down there. I used the line of logic that it was close to the gym, so I wouldn't have to go far to train. She then came back at me with her own line of logic, which was actually—unlike mine—well thought out. She said if there was a Strigoi attack I would be closer to her if I was on an upper floor. Once she said that I shut up and let her direct me to my room, which is located on the third floor. It is only a few doors down from her, so if I need to get to her, I can be there in a flash.

The fact that Eddie has a second story room and I have a third story one is why he normally beats me downstairs every morning.

"Good morning, Rose," Eddie calls behind to me, not needing to glance in my direction.

"Morning, Eddie," I say, still a little tired.

"You sound tired," he says. "What did you do, stay up all night talking to Lissa," he asks jokingly.

I give him a small smile in return. "Not exactly. She just woke me up bright and early this morning to tell me about her birthday vacation." I'm not sure if Eddie was aware of this since Lissa herself had just found out mere hours ago, and I'm sure I'm the first and only person she told, unless she woke Christian up too.

"You must be talking about the trip to Miami and her parents' private island," he says.

"Yep," I reply. "How do you know about the trip already?" I was genuinely curious. "Did Lissa wake you up at four thirty in the morning too," I joke.

"No," he says with a smile. He points to his guardian issued cell phone. All guardians have one. It's how we keep in touch with one another while we are on and off duty. It also keeps us from having to use our own personal phones for work. All important and guardian related information is either discussed in person or over the phones we all received. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say you didn't check yours this morning." He was almost at the landing to exit the staircase to the fist floor. "All guardians going on the trip were forwarded the information this morning."

Eddie stopped on the landing that led to the fist floor and turned to face me and a smile spread across his face. I didn't have to ask why he was smiling. I knew exactly why. For once he was looking up at me and I down at him due to me being one step above him.

I returned his smile and began searching for my guardian issued phone, figuring it would be wise to read the information the head of guardians here at court, Hans, had sent out. "Eddie, if you don't mind, can you tell everyone I'll be down for breakfast in about five minutes," I ask, turning to head back up the stairs. "There's something I need to get from my room before I go eat breakfast."

"Sure," he says, and we both head off in different directions. He to breakfast and I back to my room to retrieve my guardian phone and my personal cell phone. I can't believe I left them in my room, especially the guardian phone. I must have left them in my haste to get to breakfast.

A few minutes later I swing my bedroom door open and sprint over to my night stand to pick up both of my phones, my stomach growling angrily at me the entire way for my forgetfulness. I stash my personal cell phone in my jeans pocket and dash out of my room as quickly as I entered just barely remembering to close the door.

I unlock the BlackBerry phone the guardians issued me upon being named Lissa's guardian and scroll through my new messages until I find the fist one Hans sent this morning.

'_Vasilisa Dragomir has asked for and been granted permission to leave court to celebrate her upcoming birthday. You will have the rest of today to pack and you will depart tomorrow night for Miami. You will spend one week there and then you will depart for a private island owned by the Dragomirs. There you will spend three weeks. The week after Vasilisa's birthday is when you will return to court. I trust you will keep her and any other Moroi who attends this trip safe. Hans.'_

The second message he sent this morning informed us to meet in the Guardian's Head Quarters at ten thirty and to not be late. The meeting is in regards to Lissa's trip. I expected Hans to call a meeting to debrief us on the ins and outs of Miami and the private island.

I relocked my phone and placed it in my other pocket and raced down the rose colored hallway.

Each floor in the mansion followed a color scheme. The third floor was red, so the hallway was rose colored. My room is a light color of red because I didn't want my walls to look like they're bleeding. Lissa, on the other hand, decided to paint the walls in her room blood red. The fact that she's a vampire gives her an affinity to that color. I'm not sure what color the other rooms on the third floor are, but I know they're all some shade of red.

The second floor, the floor Eddie and Christian reside on, follows a blue color scheme. The hallway is the color of sapphires while Christian's room is the same ice blue color of the Ozera family's eyes. I've only ever seen Eddie's room once, but I remember it being royal blue.

The first floor, the main floor, is colored with a variety of colors that don't stray too far from white. One room is a tan color that is so light it looks white. One room is a cream color. Another is off white. The other rooms follow that pattern of colors that look white but aren't quite white.

The basement's color is orange with the exception of the gym. The gym's walls are just plain white. Everything else follows the orange color scheme. The movie theater is a pale orange. The room that contains the pools, Jacuzzis, and waterslides is an orange so light it looks faintly yellow like the sun on a bright day. The bedrooms are all a light shade of orange. The game lodge in my opinion is the most beautiful room in the house. Its walls are adorned with three different shades of orange. One shade is the same almost yellow orange that covers the wall of the room that contains the pools. The second shade of orange is just orange. It's the same color as the fruit. The last shade of orange is so deep and dark it looks red. Those three colors ornament the walls layered on top of one another in such a way that makes the room appear to always be in the presence of a sunset. The polished dark cherry wood floor that so closely resembles obsidian glass makes the room appear to have a sunset fighting against the night sky.

When I'm not on duty I spend a lot of my time there, if I'm not in the gym.

"Look who finally decided to grace us with her presence," says a snarky voice that could only belong to my best friend's husband as I enter the cream colored kitchen.

Lissa and Christian jumped the broom a few months after we graduated from St. Vladimir's Academy. At first I didn't see the appeal of getting married so young, but after a while my view shifted. I saw and felt how happy and complete Christian made Lissa feel and I realized they were perfect for one another, so why not get married?

After the wedding Lissa and Christian agreed that she should keep her last name since she is the last of her line. They also agreed that all of their children would carry Lissa's last name. They would be Dragomirs by name and blood. In one of Lissa's and Christian's sugary sweet moments they discovered Christian had enough Dragomir blood in him to rightfully make all of their children Dragomirs. Lissa and Christian don't have any children yet—and trust me it's not for lack of trying—but when they do all of them will be Dragomirs.

Stepping further into the kitchen I go stand beside Lissa who's leaning on the dark brown marble countertop of the island in the center of the room. "You may thank me later," I say to Christian, earning a smirk from him. With that I turn to Lissa and give her a hug. "Good morning again, Lissa." This made her laugh.

"Good morning again to you too, Rose," she says, straightening her flawless pale pink silk blouse. It was coupled with black denim jeans much nicer than mine. Her shoes were open-toe stilettos the same pale pink as her blouse.

"Again," Ryan Jackson inquired. He is Lissa's other guardian and my partner. He and Eddie are the same height, but Ryan is blonde haired and blue eyed. He's three years older than I am, and he's not bad to look at. He's actually pretty cute.

When he was fist assigned to Lissa she tried to set the two of us up, but I adamantly refused to date anyone after what happened at St. Vladimirs. After a few refusals and a brief explanation on my part she finally let the subject drop.

"Lissa was so excited about her birthday trip that she woke Rose up at four thirty this morning," came a deep voice from the dinning room adjacent to the kitchen. A few seconds later the voice was paired with a face, Eddie's face.

Ryan smiled and shook his head. "I bet Rose wasn't too happy about that."

"Rose wasn't happy about that at all," I say speaking in the third person, causing everyone in the room to laugh.

"Liss, I'm happy you waited until I woke up to tell me," Christian says, his tone and expression laced with false hurt. Continuing with the façade he says, "I'm your husband, you should have told me."

Christian was on Lissa's other side and she playfully hit him in the arm. "I apologize, Christian. I was sleepy when I left Rose's room. I didn't have enough energy to come tell you too."

"Translation, she didn't want to walk her lazy ass down the stairs," I say, moving to the other side of the island to stand next to Eddie and Ryan, not wanting to get hit.

Lissa rolled her eyes and placed a haughty hand on her left hip as everyone laughed at my joke. Through the bond I could tell she wasn't actually annoyed. In fact, she thought it was funny. "Breakfast is served," she says, pointing toward the dinning room Eddie came out of not too long ago.

"I'll race you there," Christian says to Eddie, already halfway to the dinning room. "I would like to have at least one éclair this morning before Rose gobbles them all down."

Eddie laughed and followed his charge into the next room. I rolled my eyes at their backs and walked with Lissa into the gorgeous dinning room.

A lavish black oak wood table sat in the center of the room with matching chairs with cream colored velvet cushions. The table was lined with a total of eighteen chairs. There were eight chairs on the left side of the table, eight on the right side, and one chair on each end.

The chandelier that hangs over the table is made entirely of crystal. There are six open dragon mouths at the end of it. The light bulbs are placed in the mouths of the six dragons, and when the light switch is turned on—like it is now—it looks as if the dragons are breathing golden fire. The dragons represent the Dragomir family.

During the day when the sun is out, the bay window behind the table enables huge quantities of sunlight to penetrate the room. When the sunlight hits the chandelier it causes the crystals to bathe the cream colored walls identical to those in the kitchen in an array of rainbow colors.

By the time Lissa and I took our seats everyone else was already seated and eating. Christian was at the head of the table and Eddie sat to his right. Christian's other guardian, Maxium Ortoff, was seated on Christian's other side. Lissa took the seat opposite Christian, and Ryan took the seat to Lissa's left. I took the seat on her right.

Once I was finally seated a face with dark chocolate brown eyes and brown shoulder length hair turned to look at me. I immediately scolded myself for not completely taking in my surroundings.

**This is the longest chapter I have written so far. I tired to make it longer than the others to make up for my lack of updating. I should be updating regularly now. I hope you guys enjoyed it. Please tell me what you think in a review.**

**I tried to describe the mansion so you would picture it the way I do. I hope I didn't go overboard with all the descriptions. **

**How do you think I did on this chapter? **

**Oh, does anyone have any possible names for guardians. I need male and female names?**

**I apologize for any mistakes you may have come across while reading this chapter.**

**R&R!**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N:  
>If at any point during the continuation of this story you have questions, concerns, criticism, or ideas, please, please, please let me know!<strong>

**In the mean time R&R!**

**Please review! It makes me very happy to hear what you all have to say!**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, except the story line or any new character(s) introduced. **

**Thank you to those who gave me name suggestions. I appreciate it. I'll definitely consider the names you gave me as well as the advice about how I should go about thinking of names. Thank you. For those of you who didn't get the chance to submit names I'm still taking suggestions!**

**By the way, this is the longest chapter so far. It came to a total of thirteen pages!**

I turned to my right and gave my undivided attention to the person sitting beside me. "I thought you were still in Russia," I said. "When did you get here?"

"Rose, who are you talkin—"

A voice cut Lissa off. "We finished our sight seeing so we decided to make an early return." The voice was laced with a Turkish accent. My father, Ibrahim Mazur, stood in the doorway.

I turned in my chair again, but this time to face Abe. "Old man, you could have called us and given us a heads up."

He walked into the room with an air that said _I'm such a tough mobster guy_. He took the first empty seat available. "I didn't know I had to inform my daughter of my whereabouts and comings and goings." He smirked at me and took a piece of sausage off my breakfast plate and popped it in his mouth. Between chews he managed to get out, "We wanted to surprise you."

"We," Christian asked, looking at Abe as if he's crazy. "Did you by some chance pick up a virus or illness over in Russia because I don't see anyone else?"

Shockingly, Abe took Christian's mockery wholeheartedly. He let out a laugh and pointed to the chair beside me. "Alright you little monster, come out and greet everyone now," he says lovingly.

That caught me by surprise. I didn't know the old man could be loving, let alone summon a loving tone. He's more of the _I'm going to break your knee caps _kind of guy. They seem more into…well…breaking things than loving.

"Я не маленький монстр черт побери!" A little angry voice yelled beside me.

Christian's guardian, Maxium Ortoff, let out a throaty laugh. He was laughing so hard he had to grip the table to keep from falling out of his chair and onto his butt. He was the only person in the room besides the speaker of that last comment who spoke fluent Russian.

Maxium, who we all just call Max, was born in Novosibirsk, Russia. He didn't move to the states until he was assigned to guard Christian. However, when we first met him he already spoke English. He learned the language while he attended St. Basil's Academy.

That's the same vampire academy Dimitri attended, and ironically enough, Max is seven years older than me. Needless to say, he and Dimitri went to school together, and considering their godly good looks, they probably competed for the same girls.

Max doesn't have Dimitri's height, but he definitely has his looks. He stands about six two with strawberry blonde hair that barley reaches the nape of his neck and stunning blue eyes the color of ocean waves.

A few months after meeting him I found that his eyes had nearly the same effect on me that Dimitri's had. Dimitri's chocolate brown eyes were so deep that I would get lost in them and I felt as if he could see right through to my soul. When I look into Max's ocean blue eyes all of my common sense and inhibitions wash away.

When Max finally gathered himself and his laughing ceased he finally spoke. The only evidence of his laughing fit was the smile plastered across his face. "I don't think Rose is going to be too pleased if you taught her how to say that." That was directed at Abe.

My eyes narrowed as I looked at Abe. He narrowed his eyes in return and our battle of the glares commenced.

"I've got my money on Abe," I heard Christian say.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ryan incline his head in my direction, indicating who he was betting on. Lissa shook her head at the boy's antics and broke the silence as well as my and Abe's glaring contest. "Max, what did she say?" Her voice held every bit of the curiosity I harbored.

His lips turned up into a smile like he wanted to burst out laughing again. With visible restraint he refrained from erupting into hysterics. After finishing the piece of bacon in his hand he finally said, "She said, and I quote, 'I'm not a little monster'."

Abe and I shared a frown. "Is that all," we asked in unison.

"No," he said, attempting but failing to fetter more laughter. "Her vocabulary is very pronounced. The sentence ended with 'damn it'."

Eddie's head fell onto his plate of food making his laughs sound strangled. Lissa was laughing so hard she was clutching her stomach and trying to draw in oxygen that might as well have been nonexistent. Ryan and Max griped the table to keep from falling to the floor. Christian actually did fall out of his chair and hit the floor. When he began rolling around and snorting like a pig Ryan and Max fell out of their seats laughing at him. That made Lissa begin laughing so hard she began to turn a nasty shade of blue due to her lack of oxygen intake and Eddie was banging his head on the table imitating Christian's snorting.

I rounded on Abe. "You taught my three year old daughter how to curse," I yelled at the top of my lungs.

"I didn't teach her that," he yelled back.

"Well, I sure as hell didn't," I retort.

He gave me an incredulous look. "Purposely, no. Inadvertently, yes."

"What are you trying to say, old man. I hope you aren't accusing me of teaching that to my daughter." I didn't like being accused of anything, especially something as ridiculous and irresponsible as this.

Christian began to point at me and his laughing, if you could call it that, got louder. "…'I…sure…as…hell…didn't'," he said in between fits of laughter and snorts.

It took me a few moments to realize Christian was recapitulating my earlier statement. _I sure as hell didn't_, I had said. My mind then shifted to what Abe said to me. _Purposely, no. Inadvertently, yes_. I didn't want to admit to Abe that he was right. He was too much like me, or I was too much like him seeing as he helped my mother bring me into existence. He is arrogant and cocky. Me telling him he's right would only inflate his already large ego. I couldn't do that. I wouldn't do that.

So instead I opted for, "Well, she had to learn it from somewhere, and it surely wasn't from me. What were you teaching my daughter over in Russia, old man?" I ignored Christian's incessant boisterous laughter. His snorting was beginning to give me a headache. Although I'm sure my head doesn't hurt as much as Eddie's will be in a few hours. With the way his head was continuously hitting his plate I'd be surprised if he didn't have a few skull fractures.

"Not Russian swear words considering the fact I don't speak the language," Abe said. A smirk was slowly spreading across his face. "If she had spoken the statement in Turkish then maybe you would have grounds to worry that I was corrupting my sweet granddaughter." The sneaky gleam in his eyes—that reminded me of why people called him Zmey, which is Russian for snake—told me he wasn't above teaching his 'sweet granddaughter' Turkish swear words.

"You may not speak the language, but I'm sure you picked up a few words and phrases during your many _dealings_ in Russia." The side of Abe's mouth quirked up in defying amusement at the word 'dealings'. I think it had to do with the way I said the word more so than me questioning his line of work. The way I said 'dealings' made it obvious I believed he engaged in illegal activities. "However," I said, earning a curious glance from him, "if you had been the one to teach her how to use that type of vocabulary, you would gladly admit to doing so."

Abe took another piece of sausage from my plate as I stared at him in utter disbelief. "It's nice to know you have such confidence in me, Rosemarie." I didn't like being addressed by my full name and Abe knew it.

In an attempt to ignore my father, I once again turned my attention to my daughter. Sometime during my war of words with Abe she had climbed onto my lap without my noticing. As I looked down at her I was met with her shoulder length brown hair. Her back was to me. I ran a hand through her hair and called her name. "Sasha." My voice didn't come out as angry as I had hoped. I had planed on reprimanding her for her improper use of language, but my tone came out amused.

She turned around to face me and I was met with chocolate brown eyes. I took a few napkins off the table and began to scrub her face. It seems as if Abe wasn't the only one mooching off my food. She had strawberry syrup covering her beautiful face and all of my pancakes were gone. I lightly shook my head and stared into her eyes so much like her father's as I finished my task leaving her face spotless. "Sasha, you understand that what you said was wrong don't you." This time my disapproval rang through as clear as day.

When I began speaking to her she had dropped her head. Now she looked back up at me with eyes glazed over with unshed tears. Her bottom lip began to quiver. "But mom, he called me a little monster." She pointed her little index finger in her grandfather's direction. A tear fell down her cheek and I quickly wiped it away. I hated to see my little girl saddened and crying. It tore my heart to pieces. Honestly, I just think it's in a mother's nature. Our need to protect our children runs so deep that we hate to see them hurting even when they are in the wrong. It's what makes our children seemingly perfect. It's why they can do no wrong in our eyes.

By now the rest of the room had returned from planet Looney and rejoined me on Earth. "Sweetheart, I know it angered you when he said it, but you can't use that kind of language. It's not befitting for someone your age, or any age really." That was Lissa. She loved my daughter almost as much as I did. Sasha was like the daughter Lissa wished to have.

"But, Aunt Lissa, Uncle Christian says stuff like that all the time." Christian looked around the room as if he would find another person sitting at the breakfast table by the name of Christian.

When he found no one he turned his gaze to me. "Rose says stuff like that all the time too," he said in an attempt to shift the blame to me. Satisfied with himself, he cut into his pancakes and took a huge victory bite.

His victory was short lived. "Actually, Rose cut back on her use of curse words after Sasha was born." That was Eddie coming to my defense. His face was sticky with syrup and it was covered in little pieces of pancakes and bits of eggs and bacon. He had cleared his plate of sausage before my daughter decided to curse at Abe and send him into a laughing head banging fit. The sight of him nearly sent me into a fit of giggles. Nearly.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Abe narrow his eyes in thought.

"Christian, you do use a lot of swear words," came Max's deep Russian accented voice.

Sasha's eyes instantly dried up. She loved Max. She had actually plotted with Lissa once to fix me up with him. She and Lissa both wanted me to start dating.

I remember Sasha's third birthday party. Lissa had the hugest cake I had ever laid eyes on made for Sasha's birthday. It was shaped like a giant stake—Sasha loved stakes, what can I say, she takes after her parents. She was standing on the dinning room table underneath the dragon chandelier because otherwise she wouldn't have been able to reach the cake to blow out her three birthday candles. After she blew out all the candles and we all clapped and cheered she jumped off the table and into my arms.

"I love you, mommy," she had said to me. She only called me mommy when she was feeling particularly affectionate toward me. She was like her father in that way. He had only called me by my nickname when he was feeling strong affection for me. She was like her father in so many ways that most of the time it seemed as if he had never left. Sasha fills the place in my heart he once held.

I proceeded to run my fingers through her hair that reminded me so much of her father. "I love you too, Sash." Sash was my term of endearment for her. It was the moniker I had given her nickname, Sasha. Her full name is Alexandra Valentina Hathaway.

Sasha is the Russian nickname for Alexandra. It was Lissa's idea to give Sasha some kind of link to her father. She felt that if I wouldn't give Sasha his last name then I should at least give her a name that would provide her with some form of connection to him. I gave into Lissa's demand without a fight because I was just content to have her speaking to me again.

After Dimitri departed campus to go work for his new charge I felt obligated to tell Lissa everything. Since he was no longer at the Academy and no longer assigned to guard Lissa, I figured there would be no harm in letting Lissa in on my feelings for him. Plus, with Dimitri gone, Lissa was the only person I had to confide in, so I told her the secret I had been hiding from her since we returned to St. Vladimirs.

"Liss," I had said to her.

Through the bond I could tell she was worried about me and anxious to hear what I had to say. Without me knowing, my voice had come out hesitant and that raised Lissa's red flags. She knew I was about to tell her something huge. "Yeah, Rose, what is it?" Her voice was calm. Encouraging.

I shook my head afraid of her reaction. She placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder and I felt a blast of encouragement through the bond. I also felt longing. She longed for the bond to be two ways so she could just get into my head and figure out what I was so hesitant to tell her. I'm happy the bond isn't two ways. If it was she would have killed me by now. Actually, she wouldn't have done anything that drastic because she was too kind for that, but I have no doubts she'd be pissed. Pissed enough to kick me out of her room.

Finally gathering enough courage to say what I had to say I blurted out the truth. "Dimitri left me."

At first she didn't understand what I was attempting to tell her. "Rose, he was just your mentor. The school can find you another one."

I remained silent. I didn't say or do anything. Through the bond I could feel Lissa assessing my demeanor, my face, and my tone of voice when I said Dimitri left me. My voice had been laced with hurt. More hurt than I should have harbored if he had _just _been my mentor. Then she reconsidered her words. _Rose, he was just your mentor_.

Then understanding clicked in. Comments I had made…ways we had acted around one another. She finally got it. The information burned in her. She understood that what I felt for Dimitri was deeper than a student caring for her mentor. She finally understood what she had been too blind to notice before.

"You loved him," she breathed in disbelief. "Why didn't…," she swallowed. "Why didn't you…," she hesitated again. When she spoke again her voice was stronger. It was encompassed with hurt that I didn't tell her and betrayal that I didn't trust her enough to tell her, but it was definitely stronger. "Why didn't you tell me!" She shouted.

I was so shocked I couldn't say anything. Lissa rarely ever lost her cool, but when she did she really lost it. Like the time she repaid Ralf with torture for torture after he and his friends tried to trick her into joining their club. When Lissa was angered she really got angry. That's how I knew this wasn't going to be good for me.

"Why. Didn't. You. Tell. Me!" She shouted again, this time putting more force behind her words.

"I couldn't," I said. I felt horrible. I was hurting and now I was hurting Lissa.

"I feel as though you don't trust me." Her voice had leveled off some. She was definitely still angry, but she was no longer yelling at me. That was a relief. "Why…did," she fumbled for the question her mind had already formed. "Did he feel the same way?" She finally managed to say.

I addressed her first statement first. "It's not that I didn't trust you because I do. I trust you more than anyone else." _Besides Dimitri_. But I didn't voice that. "It's just…well…Dimitri used to say that by us both being your guardians we would be more worried about protecting each other than protecting you. That's why we tried to deny the attraction," I said, answering her question. Guilt coursed through to me from the bond but she didn't say anything as I continued to speak. "If we were to get too invested in each other that could have very well put your life in danger."

She felt guilty that she had been the reason that kept us apart, but she was still angry with me for not telling her. She turned her brilliant jade green eyes on me and her platinum blonde hair fell out of her face. "We could have worked something out…surely there was a way for you two to stay together and still guard me…if you had told me…I could have figured something out!" Her anger was trumping her guilt and her voice was slowly rising. "Rose, you're like a sister to me. I would have figured something out eventually…before he left." When she finished her voice was back to normal. It still carried a trace of her anger, but it was normal again. Her green eyes turned weary as another question formed in her mind.

I answered her question before she had the opportunity to voice it. "Yes, Liss. Yes, we did have sex." She narrowed her eyes at me. She hated the fact that I could read her mind through the bond. But she hated it more that I hadn't thought to tell her I had lost my virginity to the man I loved—to the man she had no idea I held feelings for.

She felt like she didn't know me anymore, and really I couldn't blame her. I had kept from her important aspects of my life. She didn't have the luxury of keeping things from me with the bond we shared. If she decided not to tell me something I would find out eventually. She felt bitter about that. "Is there anything else you've been keeping from me," she snapped, causing me to jerk back from the harshness of her tone.

I looked her directly in the eyes and shook my head. "No. I'm not keeping anything else from you."

Once again she narrowed her green eyes at me. She was studying me. Assessing my face, my tone of voice, everything. She thought I was lying to her. And she had good reason to think that. I withheld the truth from her for months and didn't tell her until I felt I had no other choice. She had every right to not believe anything that came out of my mouth. That didn't mean her lack of faith in me didn't hurt. Because it did. It was now that I wished the bond worked two ways. She would know I wasn't lying to her now. It would have saved me all of this trouble because she would have been able to retrieve the information from my head as everything between Dimitri and I was happening.

When she was satisfied I was telling her the truth she moved to the door with dexterity and speed I didn't know she possessed. She flung the door open and turned to face me. When she did a flash of anger and hurt, in both her feelings and eyes, hit me. "Get out," she said to me, voice cold. She hated that I hadn't told her. It hurt her to think I didn't trust her. But what hurt her most of all was that Viktor, our worst _living_ enemy, knew. _He knew. He knew! He said as much…during his trial…but…I didn't want…I didn't think…I didn't want to believe it…I didn't think it was true_. Lissa's thought sang to me across the bond. When I made no action to move she hardened her eyes and her voice was like ice when she spoke to me again. "Get out!" She hissed. Her voice was low and menacing.

I sprang into action and hustled to the door. I didn't want to add to her anger so I did as she commanded. As I approached her I opened my mouth to tell her how sorry I was for not confiding in her, but she held up a pale hand. She pointed with her index finger out into the hallway and told me one last time to get out.

This time I did as she said. I left. I turned around just in time to be met with her slamming the door in my face and a tear hitting the ground. Her tear.

With that I walked off feeling incomplete. I had lost Dimitri and Lissa both in the same day. There was no way my life could get any worse. The two people I cared about the most in the world had abandoned me.

A month later I found out I was pregnant with Dimitri's child. I also found out that Lissa had kept her mouth shut about the relationship Dimitri and I shared. I was grateful to her for that. The only person other than her who knew was Adrian, and he hadn't told a soul.

It was then that I made the decision to go see Lissa. She had been mad at me when I told her months after the fact I had been in a relationship with my hot older mentor. If I waited until my child was born to tell her I was having Dimitri's baby she would definitely be pissed. There would be no salvaging our friendship after that, so I headed over to her dorm room.

The bond told me that's where I would find her. Luckily Christian wasn't there. I wouldn't want to interrupt one of their little love fests. As I made my way over to her dorm room the wind blew my hair out behind me. It also cleared my mind.

I thought about how I was going to raise my child. My relationship with my own mother was rocky at best—although we had come a long way from me yelling at her in class and lashing out at her. I decided then and there that I wouldn't abandon my child. Her—I had a feeling I was having a girl—father had already done that. I wouldn't subject her to that kind of pain. I would raise my daughter while simultaneously fulfilling my duties as a guardian. There was no way I was going to let my child grow up resenting me the way I had my mother.

I entered the Moroi housing and climbed the steps one pain filled step at a time. I had no idea how Lissa was going to react to the news I was about to bring her, let alone how she would react to seeing me. We hadn't spoken since the day she kicked me out of her room. She had been content to ignore me and I had been content to be ignored, although I did miss her from time to time.

My footsteps halted as I reached her room. I could feel her presence on the other side of the door. Resisting the urge to turn around and return to my own room, I knocked. I couldn't turn away. I couldn't bear to lie to her again.

When her door opened shock registered through the bond, on her face, and in her eyes. She quickly covered her feelings and her face went as blank as a guardian's. I wasn't aware she could do that. I had the frame of mind to turn around and go back to my dorm, but I wasn't the type of person to back down from uncomfortable situations. Quite frankly, I was known for charging into them. So that's what I did now.

I was the first to break the silence. "Can I come in?" My voice betrayed none of what I was feeling inside—happiness at seeing her again, sadness at our not being on speaking terms, hurt at her not having forgiven me by now—or what I came to tell her.

She didn't say anything. She was still giving me the silent treatment. After a few seconds had gone by she gestured into her room inviting me in. Once the door was shut and she had turned to face me she still didn't say anything to me. I didn't let her see it, but her not talking to me was like a stab wound to the heart.

Normally when we were silent around each other it was a pleasant comfortable silence. This was anything but. It was awkward and unusual. I was the one to break it again. "I just found this out today…and I…um…didn't want to keep it from you."

She waved her hand in a motion that said for me to continue. She still wasn't speaking to me.

I took in a deep breath and prepared to deliver the news. I felt a little weak and nauseous. Those were hormones from my pregnancy no doubt. "I'm pregnant," I say, not waiting for her response I continue on. "The baby is Dimitri's. I don't know why or how. I just know it is. He's the only guy I've ever been with physically." Dimitri and I were both dhampirs and dhampirs can't have children with our own kind. That's why I was so shocked to find out I was pregnant.

During my confession I had lowered my head as not to look Lissa in the eyes. I was afraid of what I would find. Disgust. Loathing. Anger. I didn't know. Before I met her eyes I tried to gauge her thoughts through the bond. Only I couldn't. She was…blocking me. My head snapped up to find Lissa staring at me.

Or my growing belly to be more precise. It was proof that I was telling the truth. I was two months pregnant and I had begun to develop a little baby bump. It wasn't noticeable unless you were looking for it, but it was there.

She stared at me for a few seconds. Before I knew what was happening she had launched herself into my arms…squealing with…joy. "We're having a baby," she sang, dragging me across her room as she danced and jumped up and down. And like that our one month squabble was long forgotten.

With that Sasha had pulled me out of my thoughts when she said, "mommy, don't you want to know what I wished for?" She had a giant smile adorning her face. It was times like this—when she was genuinely happy and giving me a full smile—that she looked the most like Dimitri. Like her father, she rarely ever gave anyone a full smile, but when she did, it lit up her face and beautiful no longer adequately described her. I remember I used to call Dimitri a god. Well, Sasha was a goddess.

I brought myself from my thoughts and smiled back down at her. "If you tell me, then your wish won't come true," I stated matter-of-factly.

She frowned slightly at this and then just like that the frown was gone. Her deep brown eyes lit up. "If I tell you then you can _make _it come true," she said pleased with herself. I had to hand it to her. She was definitely the daughter of Rose Hathaway and Dimitri Belikov. She had his looks. She had gotten her love for John Wayne movies, western novels and books in general, her indefinite patience, and calm demeanor from Dimitri. Although she inherited Dimitri's indefinite patience she had my temper when she got mad or annoyed. She got her lack of self control from the both of us, although Dimitri did a much better job at staying in control. Over the years I'd been able to master a façade of control. It was only a façade though. I still lost it from time to time. To me, Sasha's level of self control seemed somewhere between mine and Dimitri's. The one thing she got from me that I wished she hadn't was Rose logic, or more appropriately termed, Sasha logic.

I laughed at her roundabout way of trying to tell me what she wished for. Now I knew how Dimitri felt whenever I used Rose logic on him. I shook my head and let her think she was getting away with using Sasha logic on me. "Okay, Sash, what did you wish for?"

She gave me another brilliant smile that made me think of Dimitri. She moved her mouth to my ear, a maneuver made easy by her still being in my arms, and proceeded to tell me her wish. "I whished that you and Max would start dating and get married someday," she said innocently. A little bit too innocently. If it was one thing my daughter wasn't it was innocent. She was always getting into something. But she never did anything without thinking it through. That's how I knew she planned this, so I decided to play along.

"You do know that was two wishes don't you," I asked, a small smile spread across my lips.

She shook her tiny head and her brown hair flew through the air. Her hair was the same color as Dimitri's but it was as thick as mine. It was because of that I knew that someday her hair would grow to be as long as mine too. "No, it was only one wish. As long as I could put it all in one sentence, it was one wish." That made me laugh outright.

Sasha smiled at that, convinced she had me convinced she actually had made one wish. Content with her work she jumped from my arms and landed on her feet. I watched her as she ran over to Lissa and jumped in her arms. Lissa caught her effortlessly and they shared a knowing smile.

Later that night I cornered Lissa on the third floor hallway as she was on her way to bed. After a little coaxing on my part she finally confessed she and Sasha had plotted together to fix me and Max up.

Sasha found out the next morning and she scolded Lissa at the breakfast table for giving away their plan. The whole situation was quite funny. Even Lissa had to laugh.

"It was you!" Abe's accusatory voice snapped me out of my thoughts. When I came to he was glaring at Christian.

Christian paled under Abe's gaze and slid down in his chair. "What was me," he asked in a small voice, begging for someone to jump to his defense. He shot accusatory glances of his own at his guardians for not saying anything in his defense. Eddie didn't notice because he was too busy cleaning his breakfast off his face. Max just shrugged as if to say, _what do you expect me to do_?

Abe's eyes never left Christian. He paused as if to think about what he was about to say before he spoke. "You said yourself that Rose cursed almost as much as you do. That implies you curse a lot. Does it not?" Abe smiled a smile at Christian that I would hate to be on the receiving end of. It was wicked enough to scare any Strigoi. Christian didn't bother answering the question Abe posed. Everyone in the room knew it was rhetorical. "Your guardian even said you use a lot of swear words. That tells me you're the one who my darling granddaughter learned that awful language from." The tone he used to deliver the words 'awful language' demonstrated just how awful he thought that language was. Not awful at all. He even seemed appreciative of the fact Christian had taught my daughter how to swear in Russian. Like Lissa, Christian took Russian as a foreign language at St. Vladimir's Academy. Of course he of all people would learn the swear words.

I wasn't nearly as grateful. From the feelings flowing to me from the bond I could tell Lissa wasn't either. "Christian," she yelled. That grabbed the attention of everyone in the room. Lissa rarely ever yelled. When she did the situation was very serious and she had to practically be livid. This situation definitely constituted as serious. Her husband had taught the niece she thought of as a daughter how to use swear words.

"Aunt Lissa," Sasha said, grabbing hold of Lissa's arm with her tiny hand. "If I apologize to my grandfather will you calm down? I don't want Uncle Christian to get in trouble," she said. When her eyes began to water that was Lissa's downfall. All of her anger instantly diffused. No one in this house could refuse Sasha anything when she began to pout and cry, especially Lissa.

"Alright," said Lissa. Sasha's eyes dried up and she hopped from my lap to Lissa's. She wrapped her arms around Lissa's neck and kissed her check. When she was done and Lissa had kissed her back she situated herself back on my lap facing Abe.

"I'm sorry, Zmey," she said. She had learned that nickname when she was an infant. She heard me call Abe that once and she's called him that ever since.

Although Sasha had only given him a half apology he smiled and accepted it nonetheless. She apologized, but she didn't mean it, making it a half apology. I'm sure Abe didn't care considering the fact he wasn't opposed to her using swear words. He would have been ecstatic to hear her swear at him again. Some grandfather he was. This almost made me glad I didn't meet him until I was an adult.

I shook my head at Abe. "Sasha," I called, grabbing her attention. "You are never permitted to use curse words again." I gave her a stern look. She nodded her head to show she understood. "I love you," I said.

A ghost of a smile played across her lips and she kissed me on my right check. "I love you too, mom." With that she grabbed one of the two éclairs on my plate, bit into it, and hopped off my lap still chewing. She ran over to Max, who picked her up, so she could play with him. She didn't bother giving him a piece of her chocolate doughnut because when it came to food she had the same policy as me: share only when you need to, which is mostly never.

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. From now on, I'm going to try my best to ensure that each chapter is about this long. **

*********In case you haven't noticed, each chapter serves a purpose. The prologue was to start you guys off. The first chapter was an information chapter to provide info about where the story was headed: i.e. Miami and the private island. The second chapter was a description chapter. It described the mansion and some of the new characters. The first person to correctly guess what the theme of this chapter was will be given a sneak peak of the next chapter. I'll be sure to send it to you before I upload the next chapter. I will contact the winner via a private message and ask how you would like to receive your prize: via private message, your email service, etc. You may use as many words as you like to try to describe the theme. You may send me your thoughts in a review or in a private message.******* **

**As always, I apologize for any mistakes you may have encountered while reading this chapter.**

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**Oh, and may the first person win!**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N:  
>If at any point during the continuation of this story you have questions, concerns, criticism, or ideas, please, please, please let me know!<strong>

**In the mean time R&R!**

**Please review! It makes me very happy to hear what you all have to say!**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, except the story line or any new character(s) introduced.**

**This is the longest chapter so far. I hope you all enjoy it. It was a total of twenty-five pages. **

_**Important Message Below!**_

_*********Congratulations to the two people who received the sneak peak of this chapter. And just so all of you know, whenever I offer a sneak peak at the end of a chapter it may take me a while to update. I meant to inform you of that at the end of the last chapter but it kind of slipped my mind. Sorry.******* **_

The remainder of breakfast passed without incident. For one there wasn't much food left. There was nothing to do except finish what was left on our plates and head to the living room. We didn't have to clean up because of course Lissa and Christian had house keepers. It was their job to ensure the dinning room was spotless after we all finished eating.

They really had their work cut out for them this morning. We left the dinning room a mess thanks to Sasha sending everyone in the room, with the exception my Abe and myself, into a food splattering laughter. There was food everywhere. Eggs and syrup coated the wooden floor causing for a loud and messy exit into the kitchen—we had to pass through the kitchen to gain entrance to the living room. Once we all entered the kitchen we removed our shoes as not to track the sticky residue on the bottom of them throughout the house.

The table was covered with bits of pancakes as well as bacon and sausage. It, like the floor, was sticky with syrup. That didn't bother me it's not like I was the one who had to clean it up, but still, it's not as if the table and floors wouldn't be easy to clean. They were made of wood. It would be easy to wipe everything up and go over the surfaces of the table and floor with bleach and water.

The walls, however, were a different matter. Cleaning those would take a lot more time and energy. The only aspect of the room that remained squeaky clean was the chandelier. It hung from its home above the center of the table illuminating the room and sparkling in such a way that made the room look radiant despite the messy food influenced ornamentation. That would be a form of good news once the clean up crew arrived. Cleaning the chandelier would have been a major pain. After they got past the problem of being able to reach it they would be faced with an even more difficult task: cleaning the chandelier thoroughly but delicately. It was fragile and could and would break with the slightest of touches.

Even without having to clean the chandelier the house keepers would have their work cut out for them. I guess they could consider the mess we made a going away present seeing as how we would all be leaving for Miami as soon as the sun rose. The gift wasn't having to clean up, it was having us gone and out of the house for an entire month. If I were part of the house keeping crew, that would be enough to make me throw a party—as long as I could pay someone else to clean up afterward.

I continued my shoeless trek to the living room to join the others. We usually watched television right after breakfast.

Once I stepped through the arched doorway that led to the living room I took my usual seat beside Lissa: the side Christian wasn't occupying. While we were in the house the guardians didn't have to scout the room. We could do as we pleased, but we of course still had to be observant, which we all of course were.

I was sitting by Lissa's side watching television, human news to be exact, but my eyes would occasionally dart around the room scouting for danger. I knew the risk of danger—by that I mean Strigoi—was relatively low while we were at court, let alone tucked away in Lissa and Christian's mansion in the securest location, but years of working in the field fine-tuned my guardian skills making me always ready to jump into battle with the slightest provocation.

As my eyes made their occasional rounds I noticed the other guardians doing the same as me: searching the room. Eddie was perched comfortably against one of the off-white walls and I could see him watching the news and the room at the same time. He was a great guardian and he took his job seriously, sometimes a little more seriously than he needed to, but that had to do with being helpless and high from Strigoi endorphins when his best friend Mason Ashford had been killed. That experience had hardened him and caused him and me both to take our jobs as guardians more seriously, so out of everyone in the room who would possibly be scouting with the risk of Strigoi attacks basically nonexistent Eddie would be at the top of the list, next to me of course.

The other guardians, Max and Ryan, were scanning the room as well, but compared to Eddie and me, they were doing a half-hearted job at it. Eddie, being as observant as ever, must have guessed my line of thinking because when our eyes met his held a knowing glint. He knew what I had been thinking because his mind had undoubtedly been leading him in the same direction.

I gave him a slight smile in return which turned to an all out grin the moment I laid eyes on my daughter. Sasha was curled up next to her grandfather on her favorite couch. She had a tendency to fall asleep after a big breakfast—any other time during the day you would find her alert and wide awake—, and after all the pancakes she stole from me I'm shocked she didn't pass out the moment she dropped her fork, she definitely acquired her taste for food from me.

As my eyes slightly darted to Sasha's left I was momentarily blinded. When my vision refocused I scoffed at all the gold jewelry Abe had adorned himself with. It was enough to blind even a blind person, and the fact that he was sitting directly underneath a lamp didn't help matters. The light reflected off his myriad chains, rings, earrings, necklaces, and bracelets in a way that lit him up like a golden disco ball. It was distracting enough that it almost completely hid his topaz dress shirt and beige blazer from view.

I shook my head and redirected my gaze as I made a mental note to not look directly at the old man, which my eyes immediately thanked me for.

"Do you think that's going to come up in the guardian meeting today," Ryan asked no one in particular, snapping my focus to him. He was referring to the news report, so I turned my attention to the television.

"_In breaking news, three bodies were discovered outside a Miami, Florida beach home. The rear end of the house overlooks the Atlantic Ocean where the bodies turned up early this morning. The family that resides in the home behind me came across the bodies early this morning when the owner Dominic Swanson went for his retinue morning surf and found the bodies washed ashore." The reporter stopped speaking to gesture to the crashing crystal blue waves and the shore behind her. She faced the camera again and resumed speaking. "Dominic immediately alerted authorities who are currently in possession of the bodies. They have not yet revealed the identities or the ages of the three victims, but we were informed of the cause of death. All three victims—one female and two males—seem to have all died naturally. However, due to the length of time spent at sea none of the victims' bodies contained blood when the autopsies were performed. There were also marks on the bodies that led coroners to suspect sea animals attempted to feed off the victims." She paused to press the microphone further in her right ear. "We will have more details on the 10 o'clock news. For now, back to you Michele." _

Lissa changed the channel and worry coursed from her to me through the bond. I patted her arm reassuringly because Christian had already taken her into his arms. As I gazed at the couple I saw a fierce protectiveness in Christian's eyes. I wasn't bonded to him but I could easily guess what he was thinking. Christian and I hadn't always gotten along, especially when he first began hanging out with Lissa and when their relationship began, but we were a lot closer now. I even considered him the brother I never had since he married Lissa who was like a sister to me. Over the years we had been able to bond and I found we had many things in common, and protecting Lissa was number one on both of our lists. That's how I knew what was going on in his head, it was the same things and thoughts flowing through my own: I would give my life to protect Lissa's, I would protect her at all costs, I was going to ensue no harm befell her while we were in Miami and on her private island, and I was going to ensue she had an awesome vacation.

My eyes had been scanning the room the entire time the reporter was speaking. Once she finished talking everyone had grown more serious, with the exception of Eddie and me, because to be honest I don't think we could have gotten any more serious than we already were if we had wanted to.

"They will never find the cause of death. I guarantee you that," said Abe mater-of-factly like he knew something we didn't. He rose from his seat on the couch and began to exit the living room. His back was turned to us so his luminous jewelry was not as visible and I silently thanked him for that. Sasha thanked him too, not because of the absence of his jewelry, but because of the extra space on the couch his departure allotted her. She was still asleep, but her body uncoiled itself into the space Abe had occupied just moments ago.

Abe was almost completely from view when a voice halted his progress. "What do you mean," asked Lissa. His statement had frightened her more than she wanted anyone to know. The thought of people never knowing what had happened to those humans bothered her. Lissa had a good heart and she hated to see or hear about people being hurt, even humans. The thought that someone would want to kill them bothered her. It never crossed her mind that the bodies were found on South Beach.

Abe turned and took a few steps back into the room. He paused and studied Lissa for so long I thought he wasn't going to answer her question. Being his ever observant self, I saw realization flash across his dark eyes. It had come and gone so quickly I wasn't sure if I had actually seen it. I definitely hadn't had time to figure out what he had realized, although if I had to guess I would say he picked up on how distraught this whole situation had really made Lissa. He shifted his weight and took a few seconds to ponder his words. I'm sure he wasn't debating the tone he would use to answer Lissa's question. He was, I'm sure, deliberating _how much_ to tell us, or Lissa rather. Abe was the type to step on toes and not apologize later. It appalled me sometimes how alike we were. "If the bodies were at sea as long as they say they would be too pruned and mutilated to determine anything," he said when he finally spoke. He was about to turn and leave when another question was thrown his way.

"Where are you going?" Sasha had finally woken up but she was completely oblivious to what we had just learned.

"To go pack for the trip of course," he answered. That statement caused Sasha to bounce up and down with joy and it definitely brightened Lissa's mood. She still hadn't connected the washed up victims to South Beach, so mentioning the trip brought back the excitement she exhibited in my room earlier this morning.

Abe's reference to packing for the trip had shifted everyone's mind in the room to happier thoughts, including the guardians. That's how I knew the old man had changed the subject purposely.

"And before that," I said, keeping him rooted to the spot.

He gave me a sly smile. "Always the observant one aren't we, Rose," he said. His smile disappeared but he still had a mischievous air to him and an impish glint to his eyes. "To conduct business of course. Are you this suspicious of everyone?"

"No, just you." I gave him a sly smile of my own.

He smirked at me in return. "With good reason I'm sure," he said. "Now, do I have your permission to leave?" The smirk never left his face.

When I said nothing more he took his leave. I knew I would get no more information out of him, especially about his abrupt business matter.

Once I heard the front door close I turned and found Christian giving me a puzzled look.

"Don't ask," I said.

"Didn't plan to."

With that he turned and gave Lissa his undivided attention. She was telling him about some royal Moroi who had gotten on Tatiana's bad side last week. Through the bond I could tell she was attempting to make small talk because she couldn't think of anything else to do—or at least she couldn't think of anything she wanted to do that could be done in front of her guardians.

I made a face at that and she reddened in embarrassment because she knew I had read her thoughts.

"Rose," chastised Lissa.

"What?" I asked innocently.

"You know what. You know I hate it when you do that."

"And I hate it when I hear things like what you were thinking."

She reddened once more as the blood rushed to her pallid cheeks again. "Can't you go find something productive to do? You know you don't have to watch me this closely while we're at court, especially when we're at home."

She had a point I thought as I rose from my seat by her side. "Yes, you're right. I do have something productive I should be doing." It shocked her that I agreed with her because normally I'm not so easily swayed which honestly, should have been a red flag that I hadn't let the subject drop. "But remember that no matter where I am in the house I'll know the instant you decide to act on your thought. Hell, I'd know the instant you decided to act on your thought even if we didn't have the bond. You aren't exactly quiet when…" I glanced at Sasha trying to think of a not too descriptive word…"…excited."

Eddie, Ryan, and Max laughed. Even Christian shed a few snickers. Sasha looked confused and Lissa's face turned even redder from more embarrassment and mock outrage.

She threw a playful punch at me, which I of course dodged due to my dhampir reflexes. "Rose," she whined so softly I barely heard her.

"What? I was just making a point."

"Didn't you say you had something to do?" She desperately wanted me out of the room.

I smirked at her. "Yep, but it could definitely wait until _after _the guardian meeting because this conversation is heating up."

The guardians laughed harder and Christian joined them.

"Rose," whined Lissa again.

I walked over to Sasha and stood her up on the dark cherry wood floor. "Fine," I said. "I'm leaving. Come on Sasha, we have packing to do."

As Sasha and I climbed the steps to the third floor I heard Max making comments about Lissa and Christian's 'wild bedroom romance'. I was grateful he held his tongue until Sasha was out of hearing range. The last thing I wanted was my three year old running around cursing people out _and_ telling them about Lissa and Christian's sex life.

When we finally reached my room I opened the door and Sasha darted in. When I turned on the light, I noticed the cleaning staff had cleaned my and Sasha's shoes. Both pairs sat to the left of my door.

I picked up my pair and put them back on. Then I walked to the door on the far left of my room. To anyone who didn't know better the door would appear to lead to a bathroom or a second closet, but it actually led to another room, Sasha's room.

The door was open when I approached, so I followed the mini hallway to my daughter's room. On my way I passed a closed door that hid the bathroom Sasha and I shared. At the end of the hallway Sasha's bedroom door was ajar. I pushed it completely open to reveal a room with rose colored walls.

Sasha was nowhere to be seen so I took a seat on the edge of her child sized bed and waited for her to come out of her closet. That was the only place she could be. The only way to enter and exit her room was through the mini hallway and my room. She didn't have a door that led out to the third floor hallway. That's how I knew she was in her closet. The sliding doors to her closet being parted and her humming gave it away too.

When she finally made her appearance she was lugging a huge suitcase behind her. The sight almost made me laugh. The suitcase was bigger than her, but she had no problem dragging it to the center of her room.

"Did you pack enough clothing?" I asked. "You know we'll be gone for a month."

She looked at me and a small smile played on her lips. "Yep, go check." She gestured to her closet.

I rose from her bed and walked over to where she gestured. She had left the doors spread apart so it wasn't difficult to peer inside. When I did my eyes nearly bulged out of my head. I spun to face her and she laughed when she saw my expression. My eyes darted from her, to her suitcase, to her closet, to her suitcase, to her closet, and back to her suitcase.

I raised my eyes to meet hers. They didn't have to travel far because she was now perched on top of her suitcase. "How did you fit half of your closet in that?" I couldn't believe my eyes. Her suitcase was large, but not large enough to contain half her closet, and her closet was by no means tiny. It was humongous. It was actually the size of her bedroom.

"I folded everything really tiny," she said. Then she hopped onto the floor and proceeded to unzip her suitcase. "See." She motioned for me to come take a look, so I walked over to her.

"Wow," was my only response. She really had gotten half her closet to fit in her luggage. "It has to defy physics that you were able to get all of that to fit in there." A smile played on her lips at that. "I should get you to pack my bags. Did you pack your toiletries, accessories, and shoes?"

"Yes, mom. All of those things are in the bag next to my door." She pointed across the room. "I didn't see the need to unpack those things from the trip I took with _zmey _when I would just have to repack it all for Aunt Lissa's birthday vacation."

She really was Dimitri's daughter. I would have never thought that far ahead. My toiletry, accessory, and shoe bag would have still been packed, but that would have been because I was too lazy or tired to unpack it when we returned home, not because I knew I would have to repack it later that day if I unpacked it that morning.

It was then that I realized I hadn't gotten the chance to ask Sasha about her trip to Russia with Abe. Ever since I told her her father was Russian she had wanted to visit Russia. She had even taken it upon herself to learn the language. I hadn't actually wanted to tell her about her father but she asked me how I came up with her name and why we all called her Sasha when her name was Alexandra. I didn't want to lie to her, so I told her the truth. Her name was Russian and Sasha was the Russian nickname for Alexandra. When she asked me why I gave her a Russian name I had no choice but to tell her it was because her father was Russian. That's all the information I would give her about Dimitri, I wouldn't tell her his name, but she took what I did give her and ran with it. She had Max teach her Russian, and she pestered me about taking a trip to Russia so frequently that I finally gave in and let Abe take her.

"Sasha, how was your trip with Abe," I asked her as we made our way back to my room.

"It was very fun," she said enthusiastically. "You should have come with us mom."

I loved my daughter but I don't think I could have bared a trip to Russia. It's where Dimitri grew up. It's the one place I would be likely to run in to him. It wasn't that I was afraid to see him again because I wasn't, I just didn't want him to know about Sasha. If I had planed on letting him know he would know by know. "I couldn't. You know that. I had to stay here and perform my guardian duties." As I said that I turned to glance at Sasha who was walking behind me. The corners of her mouth were turned down and I could see the wheels of suspicion turning in her eyes as she thought.

"Yes, I know you had guardian duties." She paused. She was still gathering her thoughts to present a reasonable argument. It was times like these that I wished she hadn't inherited Dimitri's perceptive skills. "If you had wanted to go to Russia you could have come with me and _zmey_ because Aunt Lissa would have let you go. You _do_ receive vacation time. And if you didn't want to use that you could have convinced Aunt Lissa to go to Russia and then you would have had to come because it would have been your duty as a guardian to accompany her." She paused again but this time it was to let me think about what she had said. She was right and she knew it. But most importantly she knew that _I _knew she was right. "So what was in Russia that you didn't want to find or that you didn't want to find _us_? Was it my dad?"

A long silence followed her questions. I didn't know what to say or how to answer. I was flabbergasted that she had figured all of that out. I was stunned into silence. That was the first time since I told Sasha her father was Russian that she actually came right out and directly asked about him.

It was in that moment as I watched her studying me from her place on my bed that I realized I wouldn't be able to keep the truth from her forever. She was just as clever as Dimitri. She would figure it out eventually. She was only three years old and she had already guessed that I was keeping us away from places we might come across her father. At the rate she was going she would know the truth in its entirety by the time she was six.

Sasha was the one who broke the silence. "You allowed me to go but you wouldn't go because you thought that if I ran into my dad he wouldn't know who I was and I wouldn't know who he was. He would never suspect I was his daughter because he has never met me." She had taken my silence as confirmation that I was keeping us away from her father. My reluctance to speak was a dead give away because that was one of the few subjects I wouldn't talk about. Normally I would talk about anything, but not that. "I'm guessing he doesn't know _zmey _is your dad or you wouldn't have let him take me. Mom, why don't you want me to know my dad? Why don't you want _him _to know me?" The sadness in her tone was evident and it broke my heart.

"Sasha, just drop it. Okay. Please. I don't want to talk about this." My voice was laced with hurt. Hurt from seeing my daughter saddened and hurt from the day Dimitri left me. The pain had diminished quite a bit over the years but my heart still ached for him.

Sasha gave me a puzzled look because the hurt in my voice had confused her, but she let the subject drop like I asked. The look in her eyes, however, informed me that we weren't done with this topic. She was stubborn and she was not one to give up. It was one of the many things I loved about my daughter. Once she had time to process all that had happened I was sure she'd figure out why my voice had been laced with hurt.

"I love you, mom."

"I love you too, Sasha. I love you too." My voice no longer held the hurt it had previously. "I'm going to go pack my bags. If you need me or if you want to help I'll be in my closet." I walked over to my bed and pressed a kiss to her forehead. "And make sure you put your shoes back on," I said pointing to the side of my door.

"Okay."

With that I crossed my room, slide the doors to my closet open, and disappeared inside. My closet was the size and color of my room. I walked to the wall opposite me and drug my suitcase to the center of the room. Then I began packing.

After a while I felt Sasha's presence beside me. I turned to peer at her and when she noticed she had my full attention she wrapped her tiny arms around my neck. It wasn't difficult because I was squatting in front of my suitcase. "I'm sorry dad hurt you," she said softly. I wasn't surprised. I knew she would figure it out.

I pressed her close to me. "I knew you would figure it out. You're just as clever as your father."

She pulled back and looked at me in surprise. She hadn't been expecting that.

I gave her a small smile. "I'll play a little game with you if you help me pack," I said to her.

She looked at me and raised an eyebrow. It was another way she was like her father because I still couldn't do that. "What game?"

I folded a shirt from the pile of clothes on the floor that I was taking with me. After I placed it in my suitcase I spoke. "You haven't given me any details about your trip to Russia, so I'll ask you a question and you give me an answer. Then you can ask me any question you want about your father and I'll answer truthfully." It was about time I gave her some information about Dimitri. I would rather her find out about him from me than having to figure it out on her own.

"Okay," she said eagerly. She picked up one of my shirts and neatly folded it and placed it in my bag.

"I go first and I get two questions." I laughed at the look of outrage on her face. "It's only fair. You already know your dad is Russian and clever. I've already told you two things." That was Rose-logic at its finest.

She frowned at me. "No. That's not fair. You told me that stuff before we started playing the game." She paused suddenly. A ghost of a smile played on her lips. "You only get one question," she said cheerfully. "Because I've already told you my trip was fun."

It was my turn to frown. She had me there. I guess Sasha-logic worked just as well as Rose-logic. "Fine, I get one question. But I'm still going first."

"Okay, ask," she said.

I paused to think of what I wanted to know first. Then it hit me. "Did you enjoy the food?"

"The food was okay, but only because I wasn't used to it. The first day I had _zmey _take me to McDonald's, but I was disappointed when I found out they didn't sell the same food that the ones in America do." She placed a pair of folded jeans in my bag. "So _zmey _ordered something for me. It was actually good. Once I had gotten used to Russian food I found that it was quite tasty, but after a few days I wanted something hot and greasy so _zmey_ took me to a restaurant that served American food, and I ordered a burger and fries."

"Good god, what was he trying to do? Give you a heart attack?"

She gave me a full smile. "No, but you owe me three answers." Her smile grew when she said that.

I raised my eyebrows thinking she was trying to pull one over on me. "No. I only asked one…" I trailed off. Now that I thought about it I had asked three questions. Two of them had been rhetorical but they had been questions nonetheless. I wanted to smack myself for not being astute enough to realize it. But I didn't. "Those questions were rhetorical." I cut her off as she began to open her mouth in rebuttal. "But…" I paused and she looked at me eagerly sensing a victory "…I'll let you ask your three questions."

Her smile disappeared as she turned serious and tapped the left side of her face in thought. "Do you know what school he went to," asked Sasha.

Her first question was easy enough, but I knew the further into this game we got the deeper and more painful the answers would become. Grateful she began with something simple I answered immediately. "I do know where he went to school. He attended St. Basil's academy in Siberia." I smiled remembering how I used to tease him about his homeland. When I saw the confusion on Sasha's face I figured it couldn't hurt to give her that piece of information. "I used to tease him about how Siberia was nothing more than an arctic wasteland."

Sasha laughed at that and turned ponderous. She had a look of contentment on her face. Probably due to the fact that I told her more than she asked for. When her second question popped into her head she asked it. "What was his favorite kind of music?"

I placed the dress I had just folded into my suitcase before I answered her question. "He liked country music. He also liked music from the 80's."

She placed a top in my bag. "Well, that's not so bad."

I looked at her in astonishment. "You weren't the one who had to listen to it." I thought back to the morning I had walked into practice and found Dimitri sprawled out on the floor reading a western novel with "When Doves Cry" by Prince playing in the background. Yes, she was definitely lucky she hadn't had to hear it.

"I'm guessing you had a joke about that," she said.

"Yeah, I did actually. He and I were on our way to visit a guardian so I could take my qualifier. He had the radio on some 80's music station so I asked him if he minded listening to something that came out after the Berlin Wall went down. I may have asked him if he minded listening to something that came out after I was born. I'm not sure which, but I know I said both things to him at some point in time. Anyway, he made me choose between that station and some country music station. I told him to turn back to the 80's stuff and he complied. I remember there being some band singing about how video had killed the radio star when he turned back. At the time I had wished someone would kill the radio…" I trailed off only then realizing how much I had revealed. I hadn't intended to say that much. "You know that was enough material for more than three questions."

"Yeah, but I still have one more question," she said with a hint of a smile on her lips.

"Fine, but when I ask my question I want major detail," I said.

She laughed. "I'm guessing he was older than you if he was taking you to go take your qualifier, so I don't need to ask you a question about age. I know he's older than you." My mouth hung open at that. She got more out of my little spill than I had intended. I would really have to watch what I said now. "Was he a good guardian?" I'm not sure how she figured out her father was a Dhampir, but she had. I told her he had taken me to my qualifier, but that didn't mean he wasn't Moroi.

I hesitated before answering. "Yes," I said, putting a couple of pair of jeans in my bag, "he was. He was great actually—" I stopped abruptly. I was about to tell her students and colleagues admired him alike, so much so the students at St. Vladimir's Academy had called him a god. I didn't say that though. "He saved my life on more than one occasion."

Her eyes widened at that and her mouth dropped. She was used to people speaking about how tough I was and how great of a guardian I was. So for her dad to have saved my life more than once meant that he really was the god I told her my fellow classmates had called him. I didn't plan on telling her he was my mentor and the person who taught me how to be a guardian unless that question came up.

"Your turn," she said when she gathered her bearings. She was still awestruck.

I smiled at her. "Yes, yes it is my turn." I paused and rubbed my chin in an attempt to think of a question. "Okay," I said when it finally came to me. "Did you meet any new people you took a liking to and if so who?"

She gave me an impish grin and I knew what she was going to say before she said it. "Mom, that was two questions."

I didn't hesitate in giving her my response because I already had a rebuttal in place. I thought back to her third birthday party. "As long as I could fit them both in one sentence it was one question."

She raised an eyebrow at my Rose-logic. "No," she said, "that only counts for wishes." She was pleased with her use of counter Sasha-logic.

I placed more clothes in my bag as I attempted to come up with a response. "And questions. This is my game so I make the rules." Sasha was none too pleased with my roundabout way of thinking.

"Fine," she said. The only proof that she was not happy was the slight downward cast of the corner of her lips. "Yes, I met a really nice family. I'm not sure what their last name was because _zmey _wouldn't tell me and I didn't think to ask them while I was still talking to them." Her answer was short, sweet, and to the point.

I shook my head at her and zipped up my suitcase after I placed the last article of clothing in it. I turned to Sasha so she could ask me her question.

"I can tell you loved dad. It's obvious when you talk about him and your memories of him." She tilted her head to the right and asked her question. It was the question I hoped she wouldn't ask. "What's dad's name."

Any answer I might have supplied was cut short when a new companion joined us. I hadn't been expecting him, but it didn't surprise me to see him standing in the entrance way to my closet.

"I figured I'd find you in here packing," said Max. "We have to leave now or we'll be late for the guardian meeting."

I rose from my spot on the floor grateful for the interruption. I turned to Sasha. "We'll finish our game later. I have to go right now. We can resume playing it when I come back. I still have to pack my toiletry bag."

She didn't say anything she just nodded her head, which caused her brown curls to bounce.

"Aunt Lissa and Uncle Christian will be downstairs if you need anything," Max said to Sasha.

"Okay. Bye mom. Bye Max. Love you."

I'm not sure who that was directed at but Max and I both answered. "Love you too, Sasha." I kissed her head before exciting the room with Max. It saddened me to leave her here before we finished our game, but I was grateful to not have to answer her last question. Being at the guardian meeting would give me the time to think of a way to get out of answering it.

Lissa and Christian were cuddled up on the couch when Max and I said our goodbyes and informed them where they could find Sasha. Eddie and Ryan had left before we did after Max assured them he would find me and make sure we arrived at the meeting on time.

We were halfway to the guardian's headquarter building when Max broke the silence. "Are you going to answer Sasha's question?" I hadn't realized he'd heard her ask.

"What, are we playing twenty-one questions now too," I asked jokingly.

He gave me a halfhearted smile and shook his head at my joke. "Oh, is that what you two were doing. It must have been the somber intense version. I've never played that one." His Russian accent took the sting out of his words.

I frowned up at him. "Do you want me to be honest with you?"

He gave me a look that said of course he wanted me to be honest. And I couldn't blame him because who wouldn't want honesty. When he spoke again he didn't say any of that, he opted for, "honest about what exactly?"

He was the only adult in the house who wasn't privy to my romantic past. He wasn't, however, the only one who didn't know about Sasha's paternity. Lissa, Christian, and I were the only people in the house who knew who Sasha's father was. Of course Abe and Adrian knew too, but they didn't live with us.

I wasn't sure how to begin so I jumped straight to the point. "When I was in high school I fell in love with my mentor. My older mentor."I paused while a group of Moroi girls walked by us. A couple of them gave Max coquettish grins and interested looks but they remained on their way. Once they were out of ear shot I continued. "You probably know him."

He gave me a curious glance and a nod to continue as we continued on our way. "You aren't going to make me play a guessing game are you? I really detest those things."

I shook my head. "No. I'll give you his last name. It shouldn't be too tough for you to figure out the rest."

"Okay, shoot."

"Belikov." My tone contained no emotion, but I'm sure Max could see the love I still boar for Dimitri in my eyes.

He rose an eyebrow in thought no doubt racking through the list of Belikovs he knew. That list couldn't be a long one. His forehead was wrinkled in thought though. "Belikov…Belikov…Nikolai…no, I don't know a Nikolai Belikov…hmm…Belikov…Belikov…Bra…no…Andr…no…Dan…no…D…Di." He stopped trying to form names and stared at me in shock. "_Dimitri Belikov_," he breathed. "Your mentor was Dimitri Belikov. No wonder you're such a badass. You know he graduated top of our class. We went to St. Basil's together." He paused and looked down at me again. "But of course you knew that. He was in the same class as me—" He halted in sentence and in stance.

I didn't. "Keep walking or I'm going to leave you."

It didn't take long for him to catch me. He was taller than me so his stride was longer than mine. "When you say he was your mentor, you mean you were still a student and he was a full fledged guardian." I nodded my head and he almost stopped again. Almost. "Dimitri Belikov breaking the law. I never thought I'd live to see the day."

I rolled my eyes at him. "I never said we were together."

"You never said you weren't." He had a point and he knew it. "Plus, I saw the way your eyes lit up when I said his name. With love that strong there's no way your feelings weren't mutual. And with you being as beautiful as you are there's no way he wouldn't go after you—or at least I know I wouldn't have been able to resist if I had been your mentor. Plus, you're his type."

For the first time during this entire conversation I was shocked. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he was quite the ladies man when we were in school." When he saw the look on my face he clarified. "What I mean is that tons of girls threw themselves at him, dhampir and Moroi alike, but he only dated a few of them. They were always pretty and all of them had nice thick dark hair, but I have to say he outdid himself with you."

"I'm flattered," I said blandly. "You seem to know him pretty well."

"Not as well as you know him I would presume, but we did hang around each other at St. Basil's. I would go as far as to even say we were friends. He didn't have many of those because he was antisocial, but he always seemed to know everyone, but he never let anyone get too close to him. Ivan and I were the two people he let get the closest, but I can't say I know him extremely well because there were things he kept from even us." That definitely sounded like Dimitri.

We had stopped talking for a while when all of a sudden Max's eyes grew two times there normal size. I gave him a perplexed look.

"I just remembered what started this conversation," he said. Before I could think back to what we were talking about earlier he began speaking again. "Are you saying _Belikov _is Sasha's father? How is that even possible? If it's even possible it means he got you pregnant while you were still his underage student." His eyes were still the size of eggs.

I didn't want to lie to Max but I didn't want to tell him the truth either, so I settled on an in-between. "That's not what I was trying to tell you. I just thought I should clue you in on my romantic history. When we were talking earlier it made me think of how you were the only person in the house who was unaware, so I decided to make you…aware," I said. "That's all I meant by my explanation."

Max still looked a little suspicious, but he didn't get the chance to voice his opinions because we had arrived at guardian's HQ. I opened the door and walked into the room where the meeting was being held with Max hot on my tail. We had a few minutes before the meeting began so Ryan and Eddie walked over to where Max and I were standing.

"So you finally found her," Ryan said to Max.

"Where was she," asked Eddie.

"Guys, I'm standing right here and I have a mouth. Why don't you just ask me where I was?"

"That," said Max, "would be too much like right."

I shook my head at them. "We should go find seats. The meeting will begin in about two minutes."

"Guardian Hathaway is right," a voice spoke from behind me. "You should come sit beside me." That comment had been directed at Max.

When I spun around I was face to face with Guardian Yuran. She was my height with fiery red hair and blue eyes. I also knew she had the hots for Max.

When he turned to look her in the eyes her cheeks flamed a red that almost matched her hair. "Uh, sure Guardian Yuran. Where do you want to sit?" Max wasn't uncomfortable because he was used to receiving attention from females, but the invitation I'm sure came as a surprise to him. He proved my point a few seconds later. "If you don't mind me asking," he paused and ran a hand threw his strawberry blonde hair, "why are you here? What I meant was, I thought you had been assigned to St. Vladimir's Academy."

I thought the same thing too but obviously we were wrong.

She tossed her hair over her shoulder. The maneuver was definitely flirtatious but Max didn't seem to notice. "I've already told you, call me Felicia. And, uh, yeah. I was assigned to St. Vladimir's Academy, but Hans asked the captain of the guardians at the school if he could borrow me for a month, so here I am. I'll be accompanying you guys when you depart court with Princess Vasilisa and her boyfriend." She stopped to catch her breath. "Oh, there are two empty seats over there." She pointed to two seats next to the chair Han always occupied. "Come on Max." She placed her hand on his forearm and began to tug him away.

Before she got him to move two steps he pointed to the opposite side of the room she had. "There are five empty seats over there. Come one guys," he said, looking back at Eddie, Ryan, and me while he drug Guardian Yuran in the direction he had indicated.

As Max and Guardian Yuran walked ahead of us I noticed the disheartened look on her face. She had really wanted to get Max alone so she could talk to him in private—or at least without the rest of us, and by that I mean Eddie, Ryan, and me, overhearing. She had her work cut out for her if she wanted Max to take notice of her in a romantic sort of way. Behind me I heard Ryan and Eddie saying the same thing.

When we finally took our seats I turned to Eddie and Ryan. They were both sitting to my right. Guardian Yuran was to my left and Max was to her left. I dropped my voice low so she wouldn't hear what I said. "If you two jackasses know she has her work cut out for her then make Max she he might be interested in her."

Ryan was the one to reply. Eddie just smirked at me. "Language, Rose. Language," was all he said. He didn't have time to say anything else because Hans walked in just then.

"Good morning," he said as he took his seat. He scanned the room and took in all of our faces. He stopped when he came to me. "Ah, nice to see you here on time Guardian Hathaway." A few snickers ensued at that because everyone knew I was always late to meetings. "I guess you really are worth two guardians." He gestured to the two empty seats next to him. "The day you decide to show up on time two other guardians are late."

I smirked at him. "Hans, your message did say not to be late."

"And the others never did," he asked.

"They didn't actually," I stated matter-of-factly.

He gave me an incredulous look. "It was _implied_ that you should arrive on time. It's only tactful. It's called being punctual and it's recommended in the workplace."

"Well, I guess I didn't know that," I said. "I'll have to file that away for later," I sarcastically added. A few guardians began to laugh outright at that. "And why are you reprimanding me. I'm not the one who's late," I threw in as a back thought.

He ignored my last comment. I was used to that from him though. "Guardian Hathaway you need to learn discipline and punctuality."

I gave him a sly look. "If those two things had been courses taught at St. Vladimir's I would have failed those classes. Those were always two things I was never good at." By now all the guardians in the room were laughing with the exception of Hans of course. "My instructors, Kirova, and my mentor couldn't teach me those things and you won't either. I guess it goes to show the old adage is true: you can't teach an old dog new tricks."

Any retort Hans might have made was interrupted when Guardian Jack Dawson and Guardian Lyanna Strider walked through the door. They were in for an ear full.

"Sorry," I said, apologizing in advance for whatever Hans might say to them on account of me.

They both gave me confused looks. At least until Hans snapped at them.

"You are five minutes late," he snapped.

Jack strode to his seat as if Hans hadn't uttered a word let alone bitten his head off. Lyanna took the seat next to Jack while rolling her eyes at Hans' antics, which he was none too happy about.

"You are guardians! You will be on time! You will be punctual! And you will display discipline!"

"Are you talking to them or me," I asked interrupting his tirade.

"I'm talking to all of you!" He pointedly made eye contact with all of us. Me, he stared at the longest.

I held his gaze. "Do you see something you like?" That caused him to look away from me. It also brought about snickers from some of the guardians and a chorus of 'yes' from others. "Now that you're done staring me down I would like for this meeting to commence."

My last comment brought Hans back to reality and the matter at hand. "Oh, yes, of course. As you all know Princess Vasilisa Dragomir was granted permission to leave court to celebrate her birthday. Before you all depart tomorrow it is important that we cover technicality. However, prior to delving into the details, I would like everyone in the room to introduce yourself. You may not be familiar with every person in the room and you will be spending the next month with them so it is vital that you get to know every guardian currently in attendance." That last comment was thrown my way to detour me from saying whatever smart comment popped into my head.

It didn't work. I just whispered it so only Guardian Yuran, Max, Eddie, and Ryan could hear me. "Does this look like the first day of school to him. If I'm not mistaken I've already graduated."

Everyone who heard me made an attempt to stifle their laughs. Hans didn't hear what I said and if he did he didn't say anything. "We'll start on my left."

The person to Hans left didn't stand instead he said, "shouldn't you go first."

"Seeing as I'm not going on the trip I didn't deem it necessary for me to introduce myself, but if you insist…" Hans rose from the seat he had just sat in and spoke, "I'm guardian Hans Croft." He took his seat again and the guardian next to him rose looking satisfied.

"I'm Guardian Jack Dawson," he said, running a hand through his light brown hair as his hazel eyes glanced around the room.

After he was seated the person next to him stood up. "Hi, I'm Guardian Lyanna Strider." Out of the corner of my eye I could see Max looking her up and down. She had a nice body. She was curvy in a way Moroi women weren't. Her shape wasn't as defined as mine, but she did have breast any Moroi girl would kill for. They were about the same size as mine. Her wavy hair trailed down her back and was a mixture of three colors: brown, light brown, and blonde. The streaks were so perfect it looked like she had her hair professionally highlighted, but closer inspection led me to believe her hair was naturally that color. Her eyes were the emerald green you would find only in the Ivashkov family. It made me wonder if her Moroi parent was indeed a member of the Ivashkov clan.

When she seated herself a guardian that was her complete opposite stood up. As she rose, the light hit her eyes and I noticed they were so dark they looked purple. "I'm Guardian Milena Shriver." She had her hair cut so the promise mark and the _molnija _marks on her neck were visible. That's the way most female guardians wore their hair, but obviously Lyanna and I hadn't felt the need to cut ours like so many other women in our profession. Dimitri had counseled me out of cutting mine. I wonder why Lyanna hadn't cut hers.

Once Milena was in her seat the guy sitting beside her rose. I hadn't even noticed he had been in the room until now. When I first came to court he was one of the first guardian friends I made. "Guardian Mikhail Tanner," he said. Then he took a seat again. The story behind how we met was actually quite funny. Christian had told me I couldn't successfully use my ninja skills to break into the guardian's HQ building and borrow a file. Since graduation I had been harping on my skills as a guardian and that was Christian's way of putting me in my place. Of course I didn't back down. I snuck into our HQ building and gained entrance to the file room. I had the file in hand and was on my way out of the room when Mikhail walked in. I had to convince him not to turn me in and he didn't and we've been friends since then.

"Hi, I'm Guardian Jason Kovalic." His voice had been laced with a slight Russian accent. It was thicker than Max's but not by much. He had deep blonde hair that looked almost brown. As he seated himself his green eyes shifted to the person sitting next to him. It wasn't until he was completely seated that I realized his eyes contained flecks of gold. It was hard to see from a distance, but the gold was definitely present.

The guy beside Guardian Kovalic rose. "I'm Guardian Jeremy Nowitzki." His voice was laced with an accent too, but I couldn't place it. I'm guessing my face must have displayed my train of thought because Guardian Yuran leaned over and whispered in my ear that Guardian Nowitzki was German. That was a first. I hadn't met many German guardians. This guy wasn't bad too look at either. He had brown hair and brown eyes and a nice chiseled body.

Next was another guy I had never seen. He didn't introduce himself properly, but Hans let it go. "My name is Simon. You guys can just call me Simon." This guy seemed like a stick in the mud. I'd rather have Hans on the trip than him, but I couldn't always have things my way.

The next guy had a lot more life to him. He gave a nod of his head before he spoke. "I'm Guardian Austin Reynolds." The next thing out of his mouth made me laugh and I instantly knew I was going to like this guy. "You guys can just call me Guardian Austin Reynolds." His blue eyes sparkled as he took his seat and it made it easy to see the flecks of green and brown in them. He ran a hand through his tousled black hair and shot Simon a pretty white smile. Simon didn't smile back. He obviously didn't appreciate being mocked.

My partner stood up next. "I'm Guardian Ryan Jackson," he said. I could see laughter dancing in his blue eyes as he sat back down next to Guardian Reynolds.

"Guardian Eddie Castile," he stated briefly. He elbowed me to get my attention once he was seated. "Don't say too much," he said so only I could hear.

I gave him a mischievous smile as I rose. "I'm guardian Rosemarie Hathaway, but I want you all to call me Rose," I said. When I didn't sit down Hans frowned at me. I rolled my eyes at him. "While we are on this trip I plan to make sure we celebrate my best friend's birthday in style." Hans frown deepened at that. "I'm going to ensue we all enjoy ourselves, but I'm also going to hold all of you accountable for making sure you do your jobs efficiently and effectively. Making sure the Moroi entrusted to you is safe is of the upmost importance. If you can balance guarding your charge while enjoying the party scene at the same time then great for you. If not, then your partying can wait until you are _off _duty." Hans looked pleased. That was no doubt what he wanted to hear and I had meant every word of it.

"Nicely put Guardian Hathaway," Hans said as Guardian Yuran rose from her seat.

"I'm Guardian Felicia Yuran." She shot me a smile as she said that. "And I couldn't have said that any better Guardian Hathaway." The entire room chuckled at that. As Guardian Yuran lowered herself into her seat I saw the promise mark on her neck. Eight _molnija _marks also adorned her neck. All of her tattoos were easy to see because she had her fiery red hair cut off above her neck.

As Max rose he pushed a piece of strawberry blonde hair out of his ocean blue eyes. "I'm Guardian Maxium Ortoff and nicely said Rose. I'll be sure to heed your warning." I smiled at him. "And my partying will definitely wait until I'm off duty," he added suggestively. I rolled my eyes at that. Sometimes Max was serious and other times he was playful and flirty. I never knew what I was going to get from him. He always kept me guessing.

Once Max was in his seat we all gave Hans our undivided attention. There was no one left to give an introduction so Hans proceeded with the meeting.

"Guardian Hathaway already covered most of the basics." Hans turned to give me an appreciative look. "You are to keep an eye on your Moroi at all times. You are allowed to have fun but your duties as a guardian come first." He paused to let that sink in. "Like Guardian Hathaway said, if you cannot balance protecting your Moroi and having fun then you are to wait until you are off duty to enjoy your stay in Miami or on the private island." He considered his next words. "While you are away from court Guardian Hathaway will act as the head of guardians. If there are any problems go speak with her." He looked over at me. I'm not sure what my expression was but he must have liked what he saw because he continued on. "There are maps of every inch of Miami and the private island under your seats. Make sure you take them before you leave. Along with it you will find a list of known Strigoi hiding spots and feeding areas in Miami that you are to avoid." He looked around the room to make sure every one understood. "Are there any questions?"

When no one said anything I spoke up. "I know the island will be warded, so did you provide me with a list of people who will be coming to the island to lay the wards and the approximate times they will be arriving?"

Hans shifted through a few papers in front of him. "As a matter of fact that list is right here." He slid the paper across the table to me. "All the information you will need will be on that sheet. You'll have to create schedule times on your own time."

I skimmed the list he gave me and nodded my head. "I'll get right on that when I return home."

"Good," said Hans. "Before I let you all go there is one last matter we must discuss. I'm sure you all have seen the news coverage on the three bodies that turned up on South Beach earlier today." He shifted himself in his seat as we all nodded. "As of right now the guardians are not sure what to make of this situation, but I want you all to be extra careful."

"Do you believe humans are behind the deaths," asked Milena.

From the look on Hans face his answer was yes. By the looks on everyone else's face they believed humans were behind the attack too.

"Yes. Yes, I do believe humans were behind the attack." Hans finally answered Milena's question.

"I wouldn't be so sure," I said. Hans had opened his mouth to say something else but my comment cut him short."

"What do you mean, Rose," asked Eddie.

I met his eyes as I answered his question. "Do you remember what Abe said this morning?"

He gave me a puzzled look but nodded anyway. He didn't understand what I was trying to say. He hadn't caught onto what the old man had been saying earlier, but I had.

"Humans didn't kill those people. Strigoi did." That shocked everyone in the room. When they finally regained their senses Ryan was the one to speak.

"I was sitting in the living with you all this morning. I would remember Abe saying something like that," he said.

"Not if he didn't come out and say it directly," I replied, tone even. "He hinted at it, but you would have had to be being extremely observant and perceptive to understand the underlying meaning in his words." Max and Hans gave me a look that said they didn't believe me so I would make them believe. "The reporter said there were three victims. One female and two males. She also said none of the bodies contained blood but all of them contained bit marks as if sea animals had attempted to eat them."

"That's because they had been out at sea so long," said Max.

"At first I thought the same thing, but then Abe said something that made me question all of that. He said something to the effect of 'if the bodies had been out at sea as long as the reporter claimed the bodies would have been pruned and mutilated'. They would have been indistinguishable. The coroners wouldn't have been able to identify gender or tiny bite barks." I could see realization dancing in the back of all of their minds. "Plus, sea animals wouldn't have attempted to eat the bodies, they _would _have eaten the bodies. If they hadn't eaten the entire things then only fragments of the bodies would have turned up ashore, and then gender would have really been a challenge to figure out. It would have taken more than half a day to determine that."

"So far you're correct and what you're telling us makes sense, but I don't see how Strigoi come into play," said Guardian Reynolds.

"I'm getting there. Just be patient," I said to him. "Okay, so if the bodies had been at sea long enough for all the blood to miraculously disappear then gender wouldn't have been determined and bite marks wouldn't have been noticed because the bodies would have been too mutilated. However, if the bodies hadn't been out at sea long then gender would have easily been able to be determined, especially in half a day. The bodies wouldn't have been pruned or mutilated, but they still would have contained blood. The only plausible conclusion based on all those facts is Strigoi drained the victims, hence the bite marks, then they threw the bodies in the sea. They obviously didn't throw the bodies far enough because they washed up on shore. The coroners never reported the bodies mutilated just bitten. So when authorities gained possession of the body they didn't know what to think. The big hint was when the reporter said the people appeared to have died naturally. If they had died naturally then who would have felt the need to dump their bodies at sea?"

I saw understanding flash on all of there faces. They finally understood what I had been attempting to tell them.

"So that's what Abe meant when he said they would never find the cause of death," stated Ryan.

"Actually," I said, feeling every bit like an awesome detective, "I don't think that's what he meant. What he was saying was…" I had to pause. This was the part I had still yet to figure out. It had stumped me when he said it and it was still stumping me now. I thought back to this morning and how abruptly Abe departed the house to go conduct business. Then it hit me. "He meant the alchemist would ensure the human authorities never found out the true cause of death." That's the urgent business matter he had to attend. I'd forgotten he had some weird connection to and influence over the alchemist.

"Rose," said Hans, "I think you're absolutely right. I need to report this to the other guardians immediately. You guys may leave now. I'm sure you have packing to do." Hans rose from his chair without even saying goodbye. When he was halfway to the door he turned back to face us. "Don't forget the maps. Have a nice trip. And don't forget your duties." With that he opened the door and disappeared.

"Good job, Rose," said Eddie as he pushed his chair into the table.

"I see why Hans deemed you head of guardians for the trip," said Max. He walked up beside me with Guardian Yuran on his other side.

"That, I can agree with," said Ryan with a huge smile on his face. "I'm glad you're my partner."

We were the only people still in the room. Everyone else had already parted.

Ryan began to take his leave too. "I'll see you guys later. There's this new restaurant that just opened that I want to try."

"Don't you have packing to do," I asked him.

"No, unlike some people I know I've already done mine."

He walked out the door as Eddie informed us he was on his way to the court's gym. We bid him goodbye and he was on his way too.

Guardian Yuran grabbed hold of Max's forearm and he turned to face her. "We should go get something to eat," she said. "There's this really great café place at the center of court."

"Sure," he said. "Rose, why don't you come with us?"

"I'll pass," I said and Guardian Yuran shot me a grateful smile. "I have to get home so I can finish packing and begin making those schedules." I made a mental note to give Max and Guardian Yuran the same off duty times.

"Alright," he said. "I'll be sure to bring you and Sasha back an éclair."

I smiled at that. "You be sure to do that. She'll absolutely love you for bringing her an éclair back."

He gave me a smile. "And what about you? Would you love me too?"

I gave him a sly look. "I'll make sure not to work you to death."

He shook his head at me. "Okay, I guess that's fair. Come on Felicia let's go. Bye Rose"

"Bye Rose," said Guardian Yuran.

I told both of them bye and grabbed my map and paperwork before I exited the meeting room and HQ building. The walk back home was peaceful and refreshing.

When I finally got home I heard the television blaring from the living room so that's where I headed. I figured that's where my daughter would be. When I entered the living room I found Sasha watching television with Adrian.

"Hey, guys," I said causing them both to nearly jump out of their skins. "Where's Lissa and Christian."

"Lissa had to attend a mandatory meeting with my aunt, so she asked me to babysit. She would have had Christian do it but she drug him to the meeting with her."

His words shocked me. I didn't know Lissa had a meeting to attend. "Was it preplanned or was it sudden," I asked him.

"The latter." He repositioned himself on the couch so he was more comfortable.

Sasha looked over to me and motioned for me to sit down. "Mom, come sit next to me," she said.

I smiled at her and made my way around the couch. For once it was actually peaceful and kind of quiet in the house. The only thing making noise was the television. If it hadn't been on you could have heard a pen drop. My thoughts were on how unusually quite it was and how I liked the house this way. It was a nice environment to think in. So you can imagine my surprise when the front door opened with a loud bang.

I spun around lightening quick, stake poised ready to face an army of Strigoi. I was so on high alert that I didn't take time to notice I wasn't nauseous. My built in Strigoi detector wasn't alerting me to any danger, but I was too keyed up to take notice.

When the threat appeared in the arched doorway to the living room it was in the form of a pretty Moroi girl. I didn't put my stake up but I did hide it from view. It would work just as well on creepy Moroi girls as it would on Strigoi.

The girl didn't say anything she just stared at us. And by us I mean Sasha and me. It was as if Adrian wasn't even here.

"Who are you," a voice asked. Shockingly it wasn't mine. It was Sasha's.

The woman had the nerve to scrutinize my child and smile afterward. "I'm Adrian's fiancée," she said rather smugly.

Adrian sure did know how to pick them. If I were him I wouldn't touch that woman with a ten foot pole. I already didn't like her and she hadn't even spoken one word to me. From the looks of it Sasha didn't like her either. She glared at the woman and hopped off Adrian's lap—she had moved there once the door had been thrown open. She walked over to me and I picked her up once I concealed my stake. She didn't have far to walk because I was standing less than three feet away from where Adrian was lounging on the couch watching an infomercial. When Sasha was comfortable she pressed her lips to my ear to prevent unwanted ears from overhearing what she had to say.

"Mom, I don't like her. Can I hit her," she asked. It took everything in me to not burst out laughing.

Adrian turned his attention from the television to look at us, and by us I mean me and Sasha. He hadn't spared one glance for his supposed fiancée. When his emerald green eyes turned to us I could see the amusement dancing in his eyes. His exceptional Moroi hearing had no doubt allowed him to overhear what Sasha had whispered to me.

Before he spoke a word a smile broke across his face. "No, baby dhampir," he said. "You can't do that. Although if you did it would be highly amusing and quite funny."

She frowned at him. "Can I at least ask her a question then?"

Adrian looked to me for permission. I nodded my head at him giving him the okay to give Sasha permission to ask her question. She wanted the confirmation from him because the woman who had stormed into our home was supposedly _his _fiancée. I let him tell her yes because I figured there wasn't too much damage she could do with a question, or at least not as much damage as she could do with her fists.

Adrian nodded his head. "Fine, go right ahead," he said.

Sasha looked pleased. She even attempted to sound pleasant when she spoke to the other girl. She was definitely her father's daughter. "What's your name?"

Adrian and I both let out a breath we didn't know we were holding. Thank God that's all she asked. We were thinking she was going to ask something completely inappropriate and out of line.

The other girl rolled her eyes. "Avery Lazar," she said with a haughty hand on her hip and like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

**As always, I apologize for any mistakes you may have encountered while reading this chapter. I was halfway asleep when I finished it up!**

**R&R! **


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N:  
>If at any point during the continuation of this story you have questions, concerns, criticism, or ideas, please, please, please let me know!<strong>

**In the mean time R&R!**

**Please review! It makes me very happy to hear what you all have to say!**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, except the story line or any new character(s) introduced.**

**This chapter is significantly shorter than the last. This one is only sixteen pages. That's nine pages shorter than the last one. After reading this, I want you guys to let me know if you like longer chapters like the last one or semi-short ones like this one!**

Avery's eyes perused every inch of the room. She took in the opulent accommodations and stared at her reflection in the floor. Her eyes darted to the television and the unknowns obscured by the doorway to her immediate right—it led to the sitting room, but she didn't know that. When she was satisfied with her surroundings her eyes flashed to the occupants in the room. This time she did glance at Adrian. But all she did was glance. Her eyes were on him and then on to Sasha in a second. She stared at me longest of all taking in every detail. If she had been a guy, I would have said she was checking me out. I could tell by the look in her eyes though that I wasn't a point of interest to her, or at least not in the romantic sense.

It wasn't until she completed her obvious scrutiny of me that I returned the favor. Avery was beautiful. Stunning even. That didn't come as a surprise to me though. She claimed to be engaged to Adrian and he hadn't denied it, so of course she was beautiful. Adrian was a sucker for beautiful women, although Adrian was a sucker for women in general. Avery was tall, pale and slender like all Moroi, but she had a few sexy curves here and there. She was similar in build to me, including her chest, but I wasn't quite as slim as her.

Avery slanted her gorgeous blue-grey eyes that only accentuated her beauty at me. "Who," she asked, "are you? This house is too sumptuous to be anything you might own. Guardians don't make that much money." She glanced at Sasha. "That is if you're even a guardian. You do strike me as the type to be a bl—"

"Enough!" exclaimed Adrian, voice thunderous. He knew what Avery had been about to insinuate. He also knew what kind of temper I had. If he had allowed Avery to complete that sentence things would not have ended well for her. I'm not for harming Moroi—I'd been taught from a young age that _they come first_—but sometimes it was necessary to strike fear into them. If not, they would run all over you, especially royals—and Avery _was _royal, she was part of the Lazar clan.

Sasha's grip around my neck tightened as she shot daggers at the woman still standing in the living room doorway. She knew what Avery had been about to call me and she did not appreciate it. I was certain that if I loosened my hold on her she would sprint across the room and give Avery the beating of a lifetime. She was fiercely protective of those she loved; it was a trait she had acquired from both Dimitri and me.

Before I uttered a word my eyes narrowed menacingly at Avery. "No," I said to Adrian. "It's all right." I turned my gaze back to Avery, my eyes narrowing of their own accord. "Avery was right about one thing." She gave me a smug look. I didn't turn my eyes to look at Adrian and Sasha; I could imagine the shock I would find on both their faces. "I _do _strike." That wiped the smug look right off her face. Now she was the one who looked shocked. There was another emotion dancing in her eyes that trumped the shock though. It was fear.

_Good. A bit of fear would do that girl some good_, I thought to myself.

Sasha patted me on the head as if to say job well done. Adrian just glanced between Avery and me. He hadn't made an effort to intercede in the situation since he stopped his _wonderful _fiancée from calling me a blood whore.

It took Avery a few moments to regain her composure. It returned to her incrementally. Once it all snapped into place she gave me a long hard stare. "The audacity of you! Were you threatening me?"

"I surely wasn't asking you to take a stroll in the park."

I was so engrossed in my skirmish with Avery that I lost track of everything and everyone in the room. So much so, that I hardly noticed Lissa and Christian slide past Avery and slip into the room. I didn't take notice of them until Lissa was at my side shaking me out of my anger induced trance. Literally.

Christian wasn't so proactive. He wanted answers, and he wanted them then and there. "What," he asked, "the hell is going on?" The question had been directed at Adrian.

Adrian gave an uncouth shrug of his shoulders. It wasn't like Adrian to take anything seriously, even his fiancée nearly being pummeled by a fully trained guardian. Or Christian asking him what had been going on in his house since he had been gone. "Catfight." Adrian said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Christian rolled his eyes at Adrian's crude manner. "I can see that." He paused and gave his eyes a tired rub. "I hope this isn't over you."

Adrian looked between Avery and me. When his eyes settled on me he spoke. "For Rose it wasn't."

"What about the other woman? The one I don't know. The one who happens to be blocking the entranceway to my living room." Lissa had finally decided to speak up. And she was not happy. The thoughts and feelings ebbing through to me from the bond were anything but. She was pissed. At Avery. Of course Lissa didn't know the girls name, but she didn't appreciate how that woman had come into her home and accosted her best friend.

At that, everyone in the room turned to look at Avery. Everyone except Sasha and me, we had already been glaring at Avery. She no longer looked as fierce as she had when she made her grand entrance. When Adrian had spoken my name I had seen recognition flash in her eyes. Now, she looked from me to Lissa and back to me again.

When she spoke her voice was weary and it held every bit of the shock I had seen in her eyes earlier. "_Guardian Hathaway_," she breathed. "I didn't…I'm—"

"Leaving," I said. When she gave me a confused look I clarified. "I meant _I'm _leaving. You don't have to go anywhere." My words had been neither mean nor nice. They had been bland, but the deliverance of those words had been icy.

I spun on my heels and departed from the room heading toward the staircase remembering the way she had spoken my name. She obviously knew of me. And if she had prior knowledge of me she had definitely heard of my dangerous and lethal reputation. Good. My reputation alone was enough to strike fear into people, Moroi and dhampirs alike.

"Mom," asked Sasha, grabbing my attention, interrupting my stream-of-consciousness, "if that woman," she refused to call Avery by her name, "is still downstairs when we go back down to eat dinner, can I hit her?"

Sasha was adamant about getting in her punch, and at this point I was about ready to tell her to go for it. But I knew I couldn't, in good faith, give her permission to hit Avery regardless of how angry she had made me. What kind of mother would I be if I let my daughter run around punching people when she was angry? My answer to that question led me in a direction I knew Sasha wouldn't like. "No," I said to her.

She frowned at me. "But you were throwing books at your teachers and calling them fascist bastards when you were five years old." I was really beginning to regret letting Lissa tell Sasha that story.

"Yes, but you have to learn from my mistakes," I said to her, sounding very motherly. "Plus, I was five and you are three." She opened her mouth in rebuttal but I halted her with a statement of my own. "And don't say bastards," I added as an afterthought.

Her frown deepened at that but she pushed ahead with what she had to say anyway. "If I have to learn from _all_ your mistakes I'm going to lead a very boring life." I couldn't help but laugh at that. "I don't want to live vicariously through your past," she said.

"We have quite the vocabulary, don't we," I said.

There was a trace of a smile on her lips. "Abe taught me that word while we were in Russia." When she wasn't calling him _zmey _she called him Abe, just like I did. She rarely ever called him grandfather.

"The old man deserves more credit than I give him." I opened the door to my bedroom as I said that and switched the light switch on. I placed Sasha on the black comforter and we leaned against the plethora of black and various colored red pillows.

"Do you think Adrian's fiancée is still here," asked Sasha once she was situated and comfortable. At the moment she was cool, calm, and collected. She hadn't forgotten about her urge to hit Avery, but some of the appeal had died down.

I tried to raise an eyebrow. A hint of a smile danced on Sasha's lips at my failed attempt. "I'm not sure. Although based on the feelings I'm reading through the bond, I would bet money that Avery is still downstairs. Lissa is just as angry and appalled as she was when she first entered the house."

Sasha had frowned at my use of Avery's name but she didn't voice her contempt. "Yeah, Aunt Lissa is angry, but that could just be because she's still mad about the situation. It doesn't necessarily mean that woman hasn't left yet." My daughter was so intelligent for a three year old. Sometimes I wondered if being born to two dhampirs—one of whom was shadow kissed—accelerated her brain development. At times it sure seemed that way.

"It doesn't necessarily mean she's gone either," I said in response.

Sasha tilted her head in thought. I saw the epiphany seize her the same moment it struck me. "Go into Aunt Lissa's mind," she said. "Then we'll now for sure." It was the same thing I had been thinking.

"Alright," I said clearing my mind. I focused on Lissa's feelings flowing to me and on the bond. Sasha saw me concentrating and didn't make a move to interrupt me. I was so adept and practiced at going into Lissa's head that it didn't take long to make the transition.

My room, my body and Sasha faded as a new scene materialized. At first I didn't recognize where I—or rather, Lissa—was. The room was one that didn't witness a terrible amount of traffic. The room was normally only used during special occasions, and even then Lissa opted to use the sitting room as her base of operation—after all having get-togethers and functions was part of being an elite Moroi, in other words a royal.

Lissa and her companions were seated in the great room. It was a living room and a sitting room combined so we decided to call it the great room. That's also why we don't use it too much. Normally, we just lounge around in the living and sitting rooms. There was no need to occupy the great room when we dwelled in the other locations.

Lissa removed her eyes from the room's walls—a tan color so light it looked white—and forced her brilliant jade green eyes on Avery—Lissa had finally found out the woman's name—as she began to speak. "A friend of mine said she saw Adrian come here, and she said a while later she saw a beautiful woman enter the same house. I didn't know what to think so I came over here. I had no idea this was your and Christian's house, Vasilisa. Honestly, I didn't." I could tell Avery desperately wanted Lissa to accept and believe her. Lissa, however, couldn't see that. "If I had…I don't know…I guess…I…"

"Thought I was cheating on you," supplied Adrian when Avery was unable to finish the thought.

After a little probing, I found that Lissa had found it necessary to question Avery about what happened. She decided to bring her guest to the great room for questioning because the room was rarely ever used—and what better way to make use of it than to hold a Moroi interrogation session. Christian had been the one to ask Avery why she had been in his and Lissa's house. The look in his crystalline blue eyes showed he was still unhappy about the way events had unfolded, but he was softening up. That was more than I could say for Lissa though. She didn't intend to crack or give Avery the benefit of anything, especially doubt. Avery had waltzed into her house and inappropriately approached her best friend, and that to Lissa was unforgivable despite the fact that Avery was Adrian's fiancée. All that meant was that she would have to put up with her. No one said she had to like her.

Avery looked Adrian straight in the eyes as she answered. "Yes," she said sheepishly. "But, now I know that wasn't the case." She quickly grabbed his hands and held them in hers. "If I had taken the time to get my facts straight I would have known you weren't engaging in suspicious activities. If I had known that was Guardian Hathaway I would have known there was nothing going on and that you were only babysitting her daughter." She squeezed Adrian's hand tightly. "Adrian, I'm truly sorry. I apologize for thinking the worst of you and suspecting you were being unfaithful to me. You just mean so much to—" She broke off and wiped a few tears from her cheeks. "You mean…so much to me…and…I don't want to lose you." Before Adrian could say anything Avery was speaking again. She was looking across the table at Lissa and Christian. "I want to apologize to you guys too. I shouldn't have come into your house the way I did and I shouldn't have spoken the Guardian Hathaway the way I did. I'm truly sorry and I hope you two can forgive me." She turned back to Adrian. "You too," she said. "I also need to speak to Guardian Hathaway and apologize to her in person."

Through Lissa's eyes I could see Avery's aura. It consisted of a range of colors, but the most prominent one was the color that represented atonement. Avery's aura showed that she honestly was sorry for the way things happened.

Adrian, being a spirit user too, saw the same thing in Avery's aura that I had seen through Lissa's eyes. He raised his and Avery's hands and planted a kiss on one of her knuckles. Then he placed a soft chaste kiss on her lips. It brought a genuine smile to her lips as Adrian removed his from hers. "All is forgiven," he said. "I wouldn't have asked you to marry me if I didn't want to be with you and only you. With that being said, you're entitled to be jealous at times, but never of Rose. She is just my friend. You don't have anything to worry about." His emerald green eyes sparkled as he said that.

That caused Avery's smile to brighten and Lissa had to suppress an eye roll. Even after reading Avery's aura she still didn't like the girl. She believed Avery was sorry, but there was another problem that was causing Lissa to question the girl. I plunged deeper into her mind in an attempt to extract the thought. It wasn't at the forefront of Lissa's mind, so it was harder for me to get a hold of. It kept slipping through my fingertips. When I had the thought in my grasp Christian spoke distracting Lissa casing the thought to slip to the very back of Lissa's subconscious, which in turn caused me to lose it.

Christian had a look on his face that said he believed Avery. "Avery, we forgive you, and we believe you. Why don't you stay for dinner? You can apologize to Rose then, and we can get to know you a little bit better since we'll be seeing a lot of you considering you and Adrian are getting married." That shocked both Lissa and me. Me because I hadn't been expecting Christian to offer Avery an invitation to dinner, but when I took into consideration that Adrian would be staying for dinner it did make since. Lissa because she still didn't completely trust Avery and she didn't really want her at her dinning room table.

I almost had that slippery thought in hand when it evaded my reach again. Lissa's attention had been diverted once Avery began speaking. "Thank you. I appreciate that." She gave Lissa and Christian a heart warming smile, but instead of easing Lissa's suspicions it sent a chill racing up and down her spine.

Across the table Adrian had turned his attention to Lissa and dropped Avery's hands. In one of his rare moments of seriousness, he studied Lissa. Or more appropriately, her aura. I'm not sure what he saw because Lissa wasn't analyzing her aura at the moment, and while I was in her head I could only see what her eyes saw, but by the look on Adrian's face I was sure it wasn't encouraging. "Cousin, are—"

He was interrupted before he could get his thought out. "I need to go prepare dinner," said Lissa. She chose her next words wisely. "And Avery, your apology is accepted." She was careful not to say she believed Avery because that would imply she trusted her, and Lissa definitely didn't trust Avery.

She rose from her seat and began to depart from the great room. Adrian's voice stopped her. "I'll help. We haven't spoken in a while." Lissa didn't have time to decline Adrian's offer because he was out of his seat and leading Lissa to the Kitchen so quickly she couldn't get a word out. They were gone so fast Lissa didn't see the shocked expression plastered across Christian's face. I, however, did. Lissa's attention had been focused on Adrian. I had been watching the other occupants in the room.

When Lissa and Adrian finally reached the kitchen Lissa began rummaging through the refrigerator looking for something to cook. "How did you meet Avery," she asked, with her head hidden by the refrigerator door, getting straight to the point.

"When did you learn to cook," asked Adrian. "I wasn't aware that was in your repertoire. I distinctly remember you setting off the smoke alarms the last time you cooked something. If I recall correctly you blew up a dozen eggs before Christian pried you from the stove and Rose got the alarms to stop blaring." Adrian smiled at the memory. "Cousin, with all due respect, I don't want to eat anything you cook. Christian is the chef in the family. As a matter of fact, I believe you even have professional chefs at your beck and call. There is no need for you to be in the kitchen. This is not your domain." I had to agree with Adrian. If Lissa was cooking I wasn't going to eat tonight and neither was Sasha. From the shocked look on Christian's face when Lissa and Adrian left the great room I would say he had already ordered a pizza.

"Are you trying to say I can't cook," asked Lissa as she shut the refrigerator door and placed a dozen eggs on the island in the center of the kitchen.

Adrian eyed the eggs suspiciously before he spoke. "Unless you are planning on making smokey-blown-up omelet surprise I would suggest you put those things up." He pointed to the eggs Lissa had placed on the island countertop.

She ignored his jibe. "Adrian, what do you want?"

He gave her a lazy smile. "You didn't like my joke, huh."

Lissa repeated her earlier question. "How did you meet Avery?"

Adrian turned ponderous. "Ah, you did ask me that. Why do you want to know?"

"Adrian, answer the question."

"Cousin, put the eggs up."

Lissa threw her hands up in exasperation. She and I both knew this conversation would get no where. With that thought I left Lissa's head and returned to my own body.

When I did I jumped in surprise, of course all I did was burry myself deeper into the pillows. Sasha's face had been only inches from mine.

"Mom, you were with Aunt Lissa for a long time. What happened?" She looked concerned.

Up until the time Lissa called us down for dinner, I recapped what I saw through Lissa's eyes to Sasha. I left out the part where Lissa still didn't trust Avery, but I did tell Sasha that Avery was genuinely sorry for what happened. It took me a while to convince Sasha of that but eventually she gave in. I told her about Lissa and Adrian's talk, so you can understand our weariness as we entered the dinning room for dinner.

Ryan, Max and Eddie were back. They were all seated at the dinning room table. Ryan was seated on the left side of the table closest to the entrance and Eddie was seated across from him. Max was occupying a seat on the opposite end of the table that left him in full vision of the bay window. I took the seat next to him so I would have optimal visionary access to the window too. As soon as I was in my seat Sasha hopped in Max's lap. They began having a conversation in rapid Russian so I took the opportunity to survey the room.

Adrian and Avery had just entered the room and they took two seats directly across from Max and me. Next Lissa and Christian entered the room. Lissa sat in the seat next to Sasha's and Christian sat next to Ryan. It made it easier for him to talk to both Eddie and Ryan. He would have sat next to Max but it would mean having to endure girl talk throughout dinner, and Christian was not up for that.

The moment Sasha spotted Lissa she climbed from Max's lap to mine. From there she crossed her seat and placed herself in Lissa's lap. "Hey, Aunt Lissa," she said.

"Hey, Sasha," replied Lissa. She gave Sasha a brilliant smile.

"I heard you had an interesting day," whispered Max. His statement and the beginning of our conversation distracted me from Lissa and Sasha.

"I'm guessing my little guardian angle told you all about that, huh," I replied.

He nodded his head. "As a matter of fact she did." He darted his eyes in Avery's direction. The maneuver didn't look suspicious because he had already been scanning the room. Only a well trained guardian would have been able to tell there was something amiss about his shifting eyes. "I'm going to go out on a limb and say Avery is the one Adrian can't take his eyes off of. Oh wait," he said, correcting himself, "that would be you."

I spared a glance for Adrian and sure enough he was staring at me. I couldn't tell what he wanted but he caught my eyes and gave me a small lazy smile. As I turned my attention back to Max, Avery began chatting with Adrian fully captivating his attention.

I placed my elbow on the table and rested my head in the palm of my hand. "Yes. That woman is Avery, Adrian's fiancée." Sasha must not have told Max Avery was Adrian's bride to be because the look of pure shock on his face spoke volumes.

Max's eyes were just as wide now as they were after I told him Dimitri had been the mentor I had fallen in love with. "Adrian…getting married?" It was meant to be a statement but it came out more as a question. "Wow. That's hard to believe. And if he's getting married, why are we just now meeting the lucky woman?"

I was about to respond but then I stopped myself. Max did have a point. If Adrian was so in love with Avery that he proposed to her then why didn't we meet her earlier—and I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have met her today if she hadn't barged in. Why was he hiding her from us? If she hadn't been in a jealous rage would we have ever met her? Would we have even been invited to the wedding? Adrian had been rather aloof as of late, maybe it was because he was getting to know Avery. But that still didn't explain why he didn't even mention her. He didn't even tell us he had a girlfriend, let alone a fiancée.

Max watched me deliberate his point a few seconds more. "Now you're catching up to my train of thought." He cocked his head to the side and let his eyes casually drift back to Avery, around the room, and back to me. "We need to pay careful attention to how this situation unfolds. There's something someone's not letting us in on. I can't say whether it's Adrian or Avery, but we need to be watchful and mindful of the happy couple."

I wanted to tell Max that Adrian wouldn't lie to any of us, but then he had kept Avery from us and that in itself was essentially lying. I just nodded my head in response, making a mental note to make sure the guardians accompanying us on the trip were aware to watch Avery and Adrian. It had only just recently occurred to me that Avery would be going on the trip. Adrian was going, so now that we all knew about Avery, why wouldn't he bring her along?

No one in the room had heard my and Max's conversation, and for that I was grateful. The two of us not trusting Avery—and Adrian, as much as it pained me to think it—was not something we wanted leaked. Lissa might have been right in her reluctance to trust Avery, although I wouldn't tell her that.

"How was your day with Guardian Yuran," I asked, turning the conversation to a different topic. My voice was a bit louder but not much.

He gave me a smile. "It was actually quite fun. We ate and talked. We have more in common than I previously thought. She's an interesting person."

The corners of my mouth turned up in a grin. "So. Are you interested in her?"

He gave me a curious look before he replied. "As a potential girlfriend?" He turned ponderous. "No. It's not that I don't like her. It's just that she isn't really my type." He considered his words once more. "As a possible friend? Definitely. She's a really nice woman and I would love to pursue a friendship with her, but not a romance." He paused and raised an eyebrow. "Before today," he said sheepishly, "I would have thought about pursuing her in a different way, but now I know we can only be friends. Nothing more. If I was looking to settle down it would be with you and Sasha."

My eyes widened a little at that. Max and I would flirt sometimes, but he had never come out and said that. It definitely caught me by surprise. I hid my shock with a joke. "So, what, I am your type."

"Yep. You're beautiful, funny, a great guardian, stubborn, driven, strong, and a lot of other things. You're any guys' perfect woman. I understand why Dimitri wanted you."

I glanced around the room to ensure Sasha hadn't heard that. When I was satisfied that she hadn't I gave Max a response. "And Guardian Yuran isn't?"

Max shook his head at my response. It was definitely not what he had expected. He probably wanted me to give him a chaste kiss or show him some form of affection. He definitely didn't want me to bring up Guardian Yuran again. "I just paid you a very nice complement and that's all you can say. You could have at least given me a complement in return."

An impish smile appeared on my face. "I'm sure that would have gone to your head. You would have loved that."

He placed a hand over his broad chest where his heart was and clutched that area in a dramatic fashion. "Ouch," he said, tightening his grip on his chest. "I'm wounded by your words, Rose. A kiss would make the pain go away," he shot me a flirtatious smile. "Whenever I had a wound when I was a child my mother would say 'it's going to be okay, sweetheart, it's going to be okay'. She would say it in Russian and then kiss the wound to make me feel better. It always seemed to work, but since she isn't here now, _you _could take her place."

I studied Max. His tone and expression. When he had spoken of his mother his love for her was evident on his features and there was sadness in his tone. I grabbed his rather large calloused hands and held them in mine. The gesture shocked him. He hadn't been expecting me to kiss him let alone touch him affectionately. "What happened to your mother," I asked him gently. He hid his face from me for a few moments before turning back to look me in the eyes. "It was obvious how much you love her. But…there was sadness in your voice too. If it doesn't bother you too much I would like for you to tell me about her." I tightened my grip on his hands. He squeezed back in return, although he was so lost in his thoughts I wasn't sure if he even noticed our hands were still intertwined.

When he spoke his voice sounded far away. Like he was reliving a memory. By the look on his face, a painful memory. "If I promise to tell you in my own time will you make me a promise in return?" His voice still sounded far away, but he was still with me in the present. His memory hadn't completely consumed him.

"Of course," I said.

He squeezed my hands again. Whether it was still an unconscious squeeze I wasn't sure. "When I'm ready, I'll tell you all about my mother and my life growing up, but in return you have to promise me you'll never leave me." He hadn't sounded possessive when he said that. He sounded like someone who had been hurt badly by someone in the past because of a sudden departure. I could relate to that.

And I could promise him that. "I'll never leave you," I promised. "I'll even eventually give you that kiss you wanted," I said making another promise to him. He smiled at that and composed himself. The last promise I made had evoked my desired effect.

"I'll remember that." He looked down at our clasped hands and smiled before allowing my hands to slip out of his. "All of that."

No one had noticed what transpired between Max and me. They were all still caught up in their own conversations. Christian's voice floated down the table to me and I faintly heard him mention doughnuts. That sparked my memory. "Hey Max," I asked. "Did you get my and Sasha's éclairs?"

He gave me a gorgeous smile before answering. "Yes." He held up a bag that displayed the name of the café he and Guardian Yuran went to earlier in the day. "But you can't have them right now. Neither of you." He added that last part for Sasha. She had raced over to us when she saw Max hold up the bag containing the goodies.

"But I want them now," she said, pouting.

"You," Max said, placing a finger on her nose, "only have one éclair. So there is no them. The other one belongs to your mom."

"Plus," said Lissa, chiming in, "it will ruin your dinner."

Sasha and I both made a face at that. "Liss, that might not be such a bad idea if you're the one who cooked dinner. I could go for a little ruining."

That made everyone in the room laugh. Except Lissa of course. "Rose, what's wrong with my cooking?"

My eyes widened in shock that she even had to ask me that question. I, however, wasn't the one to answer. "What's right with it," asked Ryan, teasing his charge.

"Nothing," supplied Eddie. Lissa was too baffled to speak. "Or don't you remember the time she baked a cake for Rose's birthday. It looked good, but we all ended up with food poisoning for about a week after we ate it."

"What about the time she attempted to make omelets for breakfast. The house nearly burned down. I'm shocked you didn't set off every smoke alarm at court, cousin," said Adrian.

"Alright, alright, alright," said Christian. "That's enough of picking at my wife."

"Thank you," said Lissa.

"I just hope our children get my culinary skills." Lissa had been about to give Christian a well deserved hug, but she paused midway over the chair that separated them. She gave her husband a hard look and placed her back firmly against the back of her seat. Her posture made her look every bit as regal as her 'princess' title proclaimed she was.

Sasha patted Lissa's thigh soothingly and eased her tension, until I spoke.

"Liss, you didn't really cook dinner, did you/" My tone was curious and nervous.

Sasha and Lissa both chastised me as the chefs brought in the food and placed it on the table. I guess that answered that question. The food smelled, looked, and tasted delicious. During dinner we all engaged in an easy banter. Lissa even spoke to Avery a few times.

Near the end of dinner Max asked Adrian when he met Avery and Adrian had been reluctant to answer. A flash of something flashed across Avery's face at Max's question, but it was there and gone so quickly that I couldn't tell what it had been. Max's tone had sounded genuine when he asked the question, but it made Lissa remember when she had asked Adrian how he met Avery. He had been reluctant to give her an answer too. It brought her mistrust of Avery surging back. Max's question also made Christian ask Adrian why he hadn't introduced Avery to all of us. We didn't get an answer to that either.

Finally Adrian told us after a few excruciatingly silent minutes that he met Avery at a mutual friend's party a while back. They began talking and then that transformed into a relationship. Eventually he had fallen head over heels for her so he asked her to marry him. He hadn't told us about her because he wanted to surprise us on the trip to Miami.

We all accepted his answer and began to talk about a new subject. Some kind of way the conversation turned to how Lissa and Adrian hadn't specialized in high school. Lissa had then proceeded to ask Avery what she specialized in. She told us air and then gave us a demonstration. She caused a breeze to swirl through the room ruffling all of our hair. She made sure the brief blast of air didn't disturb the food on the table though. I was sure the clean up crew wouldn't have been too happy about another giant mess.

Eventually dinner came to a close and Adrian and Avery began to leave. Before they did Avery made it a point to pull me aside and apologize for the situation that happened between us earlier. I told her she was forgiven and gave her a small smile and reminded her what time the jets were leaving for Miami. We had about two hours before the sun rose and we departed court. Everyone needed to be there on time or he or she would be left behind. I knew how much Adrian loved to sleep so I made sure Avery knew that they had to be on, not strolling toward, one of the jets by the takeoff time.

"I guess I better finish packing so _I _don't miss the flight," I said once Avery and Adrian were long gone. The rest of us had migrated to the living room to watch television until it was time to go. No one was going to go to sleep. That could be done on the jets.

"You won't miss the flight and you don't have to pack," said Sasha. "I finished your packing for you." She gave me a dangerous look—I wasn't sure how a three year old managed that, but she had. "So you owe me. Big time." What she meant was she hadn't forgotten about our game and the question I hadn't answered and she intended to collect on my debt.

I could already smell trouble brewing. "If I unpacked the bag you packed and then repacked it, would I still owe you?" I had to find a way to get out of debt to my daughter. If I didn't, I knew I wouldn't agree with her terms of repayment.

"Yes," said Sasha. She had a rare full smile on her face. She had all the control in this situation and she knew it, and she was going to use that against me. She wasn't going to give me what I wanted because it would mean giving up what she wanted—more information about her father. "And I will collect on your debt when I see fit." She was going to make me wait. And there was no telling how long I would have to wait. She had her father's patience and I, unfortunately, didn't have any. She knew the longer she made me wait the more likely it was that I would break and tell her any and everything she wanted to know.

I didn't like for things to be hung over my head with the possibility of crashing down on me at any moment. I was a proactive person. I didn't like waiting around. I had to do something to prevent the inevitable crash, and in this case that would be giving in to Sasha and telling her whatever she wanted to know. Sasha knew I couldn't just wait around patiently until she decided to collect her payment and she was going to use that against me.

"I can't believe," said Christian when I failed to say anything in response to Sasha, "you got out manipulated by a three year old, Rose. I never thought I would see the day that happened. But of course it would be your own child that was the one to get over on you." He chucked. "If she's this good at it at three I can't wait until she's a teenager."

Eddie decided to make his presence known. "If she's anything like Rose was, I can wait."

I shook my head at Eddie and Christian and watched Sasha victoriously gobble down her éclair. I had already eaten mine. I snuck it out of the bag during dinner when Max hadn't been paying attention. It was good too. I would definitely have to make a trip to the café Max and Guardian Yuran went to.

Doing my guardian duty I made a casual glance around the room. My eyes met Lissa's and she held my gaze willing me to tell her what was going on between Sasha and me. Her feelings weren't worried just curious. She had been the only one to notice anything amiss with the way my and Sasha's conversation had gone. Max hadn't even noticed and he had heard Sasha's question earlier today. I guess best friends had a way of sensing when something was wrong with the other even when one couldn't read the other's thoughts.

I gave Lissa a reassuring smile that said I would fill her in later and she nodded her head, although it wasn't necessary because I could read her mental okay through the bond.

About an hour later my gazed shifted to one of the windows in the living room and I could see the sun rising on the horizon. It was almost time for us to leave for Miami. Once the sun was completely visible in the sky our jets would be lost from the court's gaze as we traveled down south to have the time of our lives. I found myself getting excited the more I thought about the trip, at least until I remembered my guardian duties.

"Guys, I need to go check to make sure everything is going according to plan so far," I said. "I'll take my bags with me and stay by the jets and wait for you guys to arrive. Lissa, you bring Sasha with you when you come board the jet. I have to go do inspection duty. You'll have Eddie, Max, and Ryan here to help you get everyone's luggage to the runway." My tone had been firm leaving no room for argument, but that didn't stop Sasha.

"But mom," she said, "why can't I go with you?" She was in my lap looking up at me with a sad face.

I kissed her on the head before I spoke. "Because I have to go perform my guardian duties. You have to stay here, okay."

She didn't look like she approved but she nodded her head nonetheless. She kissed me on my cheek before Christian pulled her off my lap and began tickling her. It cheered her up instantly and she couldn't stop laughing. I spared a smile for the sight in front of me before I went upstairs to grab my bags. I brought Sasha's bags down with me and left then in the living room so she wouldn't have to make a trip upstairs. I said my goodbyes and headed off to the runway strip.

I arrived a little under an hour before the jets were take off. There were two jets on the runway. They kind of resembled the ones the academy used to have. I loaded my bags on to the jet in front and began my inspection. By the time I finished inspecting the second jet, guardians began to arrive with their, as well as their charges, bags.

I had already assigned guardians to jets. That information had been sent out before I ate dinner. After I had created the schedules I thought it necessary to let all the guardians know what their duties were. I sent out a message entailing their on duty times and which Moroi they would be guarding. They also received a copy of the entire schedule for the time we would be away from court.

"I presume the jets are safe," said Ryan. He had walked over to me after he loaded his and Lissa's bags on to the first jet. His question was serious because there were some Moroi who would sabotage our jets so some of the Moroi going on the trip wouldn't come back. Or even make it to their destination as sad as that fact was.

I answered his question, but I didn't meet his eyes. I was scanning the crowd of people beginning to accumulate. "Yes, they are safe," I said. As I did, I noticed my father's face join the crowd of people as his two hired guardians made way for him to approach and board the jet out in front.

When I turned to my side I noticed Ryan was gone. I scanned the crowd again and noticed him helping guardians get bags loaded onto one of the jets as to lessen the hoard of people concentrated in one area. The runway was huge, but everyone had decided to congregate in a tiny spot near the two jets. No one planned to board the jets until they saw their bags loaded.

I spotted Lissa, Sasha and Christian and maneuvered my way through the crowd to reach them. "Where are Max and Eddie," I asked, taking Sasha's bags from Christian.

"Eddie is putting his and my bags on the jet and Max is loading Lissa's extra bags as well as his own," said Christian. "They had me carry Sasha's since her bags were the lightest and the sun is almost completely up." I looked to the sky and found that Christian was right. We had all of fifteen minutes before the jets were to take off.

I lead them through the thinned crowd to the first jet so they could board. "Alright guys," I said. "You can board. I'll be on in a few minutes. I have other duties to attend to before I take my seat on the jet. I'll see you guys in a bit."

Sasha and Lissa waved to me as they entered the jet. Christian had already disappeared. I placed Sasha's bags in the luggage compartment that was nearly full to capacity and headed to the second jet. The runway was entirely clear now.

When I stepped into the aisle way of the second jet everyone grew quiet. They all knew I was here on official guardian business. "I'm not going to bore you guys with a lot of details," I said. "I just need to make sure you all, Moroi and guardians alike, are aware of how things will work while we are away from court."

Things weren't going to be very different, but some of the Moroi didn't have assigned guardians and some didn't have enough. That had to be addressed before we departed. Of course the guardians already knew who their charges were, but the Moroi didn't know who would be guarding them—unless they already had appointed guardians. It was important that Moroi and guardians be on the same terms.

"Avery," I said, "you already have one guardian, but you need another. Guardian Austin Reynolds will protect you in addition to your guardian Simon." She nodded in understanding and Guardian Reynolds gave her a curt nod so she would know who he was. "Adrian, you don't have any guardians, so I have assigned Guardians Jack Dawson and Mikhail Tanner to guard you." Adrian knew them both already so I figured it would be a good fit. "Mia," I said, looking straight down the aisle to where she was seated. Until recently I didn't even know she would be attending the trip. I hadn't found out until I read through the papers Hans had given me at the guardian meeting. "You will be in the care of Guardians Felicia Yuran and Jeremy Nowitzki." I pointed to her right. "They are the two guardians seated to your right." She nodded. "Guardian Milena Shriver will be in charge of this group whenever I am not around." The choice had been easy to make. While in the guardian meeting she struck me as the responsible type, so I put her in charge of this group.

After telling them a few more things I departed the jet to head to my own. I closed the luggage hatch on both jets before I boarded mine. I repeated the same important information I told the people on the jet behind us to my own group. As this information session came to a close, the pilot informed us we were close to take off and encouraged us to buckle up. I found my seat in the back of jet beside Sasha.

I smiled at her because she was already asleep. I buckled my seat belt and checked to ensure hers was buckled too right as the plan took off. The second we were in the air a head splitting headache kicked in. I knew it was due to me being shadow kissed, but that didn't assuage the pain. I put up my mental barriers, which reduced a significant amount of the pain.

Lissa and Christian were seated to my and Sasha's left and they were both giving me concerned looks. "Are you alright," they asked in unison.

"Fine," I said. I gave them a thumbs-up and they reluctantly returned to their conversation. Through the bond I could feel Lissa's concern. It was deepened because she knew she couldn't just heal the pain away.

I ignored the pain and pulled the shade up to display the window. I watched the sleeping court fade behind us. As the last of the court's buildings receded behind our jet I wondered what was waiting for us in Miami.

_*******The gang is finally headed to Miami. What do you guys think will happen? What do you want to happen? I'll take your suggestions into consideration. Oh, and what characters do you guys like? What characters don't you like? Let me know in a review!*******_

**As always I apologize for any mistakes you may have come across while reading this chapter. **


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N:  
>If at any point during the continuation of this story you have questions, concerns, criticism, or ideas, please, please, please let me know!<strong>

**In the mean time R&R!**

**Please review! It makes me very happy to hear what you all have to say!**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, except the story line or any new character(s) introduced.**

The flight from Court to Miami was relatively quick. After less than an hour we were landing on an airstrip in Miami. The myriad palm trees, as well as the ice blue ocean waves, gave away our location. That, and the pilot's announcement advising us to strap ourselves in due to our proximity to the runway.

Needless to say, no one received much sleep. Guardians were trained to withstand uncomfortable situations, which is why we were holding up better than the Moroi. They were weak due to their lack of sleep and—although it was comfortable and refreshing to me—rays of brilliant yellow sunlight flowing through the jet's windows. Unlike Strigoi, Moroi didn't die upon immediate sun exposure. It did, however, cause them a great deal of discomfort. It appealed to the senses of a dhampir like me due to our durability and half-human genes.

The sun's rays did bring some form of good news to the Moroi though: we would be able to check into our hotel without the threat of possible Strigoi attacks looming over our heads. It was day time. Strigoi couldn't attack. The human morning also meant the vampiric night. Once we were checked in we could go to sleep and be well rested when the fun began tonight.

Slight movement in my periphery caught my attention. Lissa was finally awake. She rubbed her eyes and turned to me expectantly. Now that we had landed I was in a role of command again. It was my duty to inform everyone of how we were going to handle arriving at the hotel. It wasn't as if we could all just show up at once and check in. A party of twenty-two magically checking in at the same time would be more than enough to raise a few eyebrows. And that was the last thing we wanted to do.

Lissa unbuckled the seatbelt Christian had fastened when the pilot gave the command just as I began to speak. When I did, there wasn't an once of drowsiness in my tone. I was demonstrating by example what I expected of the guardians aboard this jet. If I was awake and alert I expected them to be the same. "Lissa, Sasha, and I will check in first," I said. I turned to face Ryan. "You will come with us but you won't enter with us. You'll wait at the side door on the far right of the hotel until after we check in. Once we're done I'll let you in and we'll all head to the room." Ryan nodded his head at that already aware of the side door I spoke of. A map of every floor, level, and inch of the hotel was incorporated with the map of Miami Hans had given us at the meeting. All the guardians had been advised to study it and Ryan had.

"How long until the next group checks in," asked Guardian Lyanna Strider from the front of the jet. Her long hair swayed as she turned to face the back of the jet where I was standing giving instructions. "We can't come in back to back, and if a group of three checks in every fifteen minutes that could be noted as suspicious as well."

She had a point. A point I had already thought of and formed a conclusion to. "Only the Moroi need to be escorted in. There are only six Moroi on this trip, so only six trips need to be made. Each Moroi will be accompanied by two people. The guardian or guardians not accompanying the Moroi but are sharing a room with that Moroi will wait by a side door until the guardian guarding the Moroi comes to open the door." I could see the question forming on Guardian Strider's lips and I knew what she would ask before she asked it. "The groups will depart the jets in different intervals of time. We are approximately two minutes walking distance from the hotel," I said. "Assuming check-in takes five minutes, the next group will arrive in the lobby of the hotel seven minutes after my group leaves the jet. Once the second group finishes with their check-in they will call the third group when they see fit for them to leave the jet. The rest of the departures will proceed in that manner. The next group doesn't leave until they receive a phone call from the previous group giving them the okay to depart."

My demands were met with a nod as I pulled out my guardian-issued cell phone. Guardian Milena Shriver was on the other end once the ringing stopped. I filled her in on the check-in proceedings and she informed the Moroi and guardians on her jet. Once they gave their chorus of agreement Guardian Shriver and I hung up our phones.

When I picked up Sasha's sleeping form I noticed the guardians were flanking the Moroi they would be escorting to the check-in station. Ryan was already out of his seat and standing in the exit waiting on Lissa, Sasha, and I to approach.

Lissa gave Christian a quick kiss before she rose from her seat, and I did that guardian seeing-without-seeing technique. It was something I had learned to master over the years. Lissa and Christian were very affectionate with one another and I preferred to see as little of their relationship as possible. Although, they made that pretty difficult with the frequency in which they danced the vertical tango, and the bond I shared with Lissa made sure I was always aware of when they did.

I shook my head to rid my mind of one of their more vivid encounters as I followed Lissa up the aisle way to the exit. Sasha stirred in my arms as we exited the jet, but she didn't wake. Stepping off the jet and into the radiant sunlight was like going home. Moments like these made me realize how much I missed the sun due to the vampiric schedule I was always on.

Beside me, I could tell Lissa was uncomfortable, so I didn't hesitate in leading her and Ryan toward the hotel we were going to check in to. There were beautiful palm trees lining the sidewalk as we made our way to our destination. They enhanced the beauty of the city as did the verdant grass that surrounded the trees. From where my party and I were walking I could smell the salt from the ocean water and it brought with it the image of me lounging on the sand and swimming in the ocean in a swim suit I didn't have the funds to afford. The meager salary a guardian made wasn't enough to buy the bathing suit of my dreams.

"Hey, Rose," said Lissa, bringing me out of my thoughts of expensive clothing. "How about we go shopping to kick off our vacation? We have to look good for my birthday."

"Liss, you brought along plenty of clothes to look good for your birthday," I said, nodding my head toward her many suit cases. Luckily all of her bags had wheels so I could pull them behind me and still carry my own. Ryan had his bags and Sasha's since I was loaded to capacity. Lissa was now carrying Sasha. I gave her Sasha's sleeping body when we took the bags from the luggage compartment since I couldn't take her bags and mine and still hold my daughter.

"But what's the point of coming to Miami and not doing a fair amount of shopping. I have to buy something," said Lissa. Sasha was waking up in her arms.

We had to move further to the right of the sidewalk to sidestep the hoard of people standing around mingling. Occasionally as I glanced around taking in my surroundings I would notice a Moroi. I didn't see too many because the sun was out in full blaze, but I did see a couple here and there. "Fine," I said, replying to Lissa. "But any new bag we take back you have to carry."

She laughed at that and Sasha completely woke up. She drowsily rubbed at her eyes and stared around at her surroundings wide-eyed. When she turned her dark eyes to me I could easily read the emotion in them: excitement. She bounced up and down in Lissa's arms. "Aunt Lissa, can we go shopping. We have to go shopping."

Lissa smiled down at her. "Of course. Your mom and I were just discussing that." She turned her smile to me. "Right, Rose."

"And the fact that you're corrupting my daughter," I joked.

"No she's not," argued Sasha. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ryan shake his head.

Any response I might have made was cut short because the name etched on the building in front of us caught my attention. It only took me a second to realize it was the name of the hotel we were going to be staying in. Ryan and I shared a knowing look. It was time for him to depart from us and wait by the side door. Before he walked off though, he pulled a luggage cart over to me. He placed his and Sasha's bags on it and gave me a curt nod before stealthily slipping into the shadows cast by the enormous building.

I spied a glass revolving entrance and pushed the cart in its direction. All the doors leading into the hotel were made of magnificent glass. They were all thick and well cared for. In truth, they looked to be built proof. The revolving door, however, provided quick and easy access. Stepping into the coolness of the hotel was very refreshing. It wasn't until the cool air hit me that I realized just how hot it was outside. "I'm going to need a shower before I go to sleep," I said, taking notice of my sweaty appearance.

"We have to check in first," said Lissa, leading the way to the front desk. The receptionist gave Lissa a warm smile as she approached. He gave me an appreciative look and his gaze lingered on my chest a little longer than I would have liked before he offered up a smile for Sasha too. Lissa gave a brilliant smile of her own making sure to keep her fangs concealed. It was a maneuver that came easily and effortlessly to her because she had been taught to smile that way since she was little. "Hi, I'm Vasilisa Dragomir and I would like to check-in now." When Lissa had married Christian she decided to keep her maiden name seeing as how she was the last of her line. It was a decision Christian didn't fight her on because he knew how important it was to her.

"Hi, Vasilisa. And welcome. My name is Chad, if at any point during your stay here you need anything come ask me." He paused and gave me a flirty smile. "Any of you," he added.

"Thank you," said Lissa as she handed over her credit card. "We'll be sure to take you up on that offer. We may need a tour around the city when you get off work. It's our first time visiting. All of us." His interest in me hadn't gone unnoticed. "This," said Lissa, "is my best friend Rose, and this little bundle of joy in my arms is her daughter Sasha."

Chad swiped Lissa's credit card to charge our room. "Ah, it's nice to meet you Sasha and Rose." He reached behind him and produced a rose from a vase I hadn't noticed until now. It had been completely obscured by his body. He handed the flower to me making sure the thorns didn't pierce my skin. "A beautiful flower for a beautiful lady. It suits you perfectly." He smiled at Sasha again as he handed Lissa her credit card back. "I see where you get your looks from. I'm sure you'll be as heart-breakingly gorgeous as your mother when you grow up."

"You're a smart man with excellent taste," said Sasha, causing us all to laugh.

"You definitely chose the correct term to describe me," I said to Chad, giving him a smile. It wasn't flirty, it was just nice. He was human and my kind didn't get involved with humans. At least, not since a while back. "I've surely broken enough hearts to deserve the title heart-breakingly gorgeous."

"I don't doubt that," he said, returning my smile. "Have a nice stay. And if you still want that tour my shift ends at four. Meet me in the lobby no later than fifteen minutes after my shift ends if you're still interested."

"Alright, and thanks. We'll meet you then." Lissa had been the one to reply. When we were out of ear shot she spoke to me. "He can give us a tour and lead us to the mall. We need to get there during human hours so we have adequate time to shop. Plus we'll be back in time for breakfast." The human 'night' was the vampiric 'morning', which would mean we _would _be back in time for breakfast. Being on a human schedule these past few hours had slightly shifted my sense of time.

"That's fine," I said. "As long as you and Sasha don't make an attempt to play match-maker. I didn't come to Miami to find love."

Lissa pressed the up button to summon the elevator that would take us to our floor before turning to face me. "Maybe it isn't your intent, but it's when we're not looking that we find what we've been searching for. What we really want. What we need."

Oddly she sounded like Dimitri. Her words sounded like a zen-life lesson he would have offered up. During the time he was my mentor he used to give me profound advice all the time. When he did, it would irritate me, but in this moment, I whished it was him issuing zen-life lessons and not Lissa. It wasn't until this moment that I realized how much I appreciated the advice he gave me. Once I deciphered the meaning of what he told me I always found whatever he said to be true. It always registered with me. But Lissa's advice was like a slap in the face. I didn't want love. I didn't need love. And I sure as hell hadn't been looking for it. _It's when we're not looking that we find what we've been searching for_. The more I thought about what she said, the more truth I found in her words. A little while after Dimitri left I _had _stopped searching for love. After a few failed attempts at dating, I came to the realization that Dimitri was the only man I would ever love. It was pointless searching for love when you knew it was completely unavailable to you.

Looking into Lissa's jade-green eyes I was struck with another realization. "You think we'll find our way back to each other when we least expect it, don't you?" Sasha, who was still in Lissa's arms, had a confused look on her face. Lissa's eyes, however, held a knowing glint. A quick sweep of her mind told me she had no idea where Dimitri was other than with Tasha seeing as how he's her guardian, but she believed we would eventually find our way back to each other. "Lissa, this is the real world. Miracles and star-crossed lovers just don't exist." I vaguely remembered saying something similar to that to Dimitri after one of his many advice seminars. "I can't just go around expecting love to fall out of the sky and onto my lap. Things just don't work that way. Plus, that part of my life is in the past."

Lissa's gaze focused on Sasha who was starring between the two of us in an attempt to decipher the covert meaning in our conversation. "That will never _just_ be your past." Her eyes flickered back to me. "No matter how much you may think you want it to be." Lissa held up a lock of Sasha's brown hair to prove her point. She let the piece of hair fall from her hands as she gave Sasha a brilliant smile and stared into her deep brown eyes. She had a point, she was right, and she knew it.

But I wasn't going to yield. "_That _part of my life is the past. _This _is my present and future." What my words really meant was that _Dimitri _was my past and _Sasha _was my present and future. Lissa understood what I said and the feelings flowing through the bond and the look on her face told me she disagreed.

"Who are you trying t—"

The rest of what Lissa might have said was interrupted by the _ding _of the opening elevator doors. This conversation was officially over and I couldn't have been happier. I didn't appreciate having rational logic thrown in my face. I also didn't appreciate having my feelings for a past lover thrown in my face. Honestly, between the two I didn't know which was worse.

I pushed the luggage cart into the empty elevator and turned toward the direction I knew would lead me to the door Ryan was waiting behind. "I'll see you two in the room."

Sasha hopped from Lissa's arms to the floor of the elevator and Lissa placed her newly freed hand on the luggage cart. "2406." I didn't need an explanation to figure out that was our room number.

I gave Lissa a nod and I faintly heard Sasha call goodbye to me as the elevator doors sealed shut. The number above the elevator door, which indicated which floor Lissa and Sasha were on, read four when Lissa sent a thought to me through the bond. _This isn't over. We'll finish our conversation later. _

The bond only worked one-way so I couldn't give Lissa a response, but she didn't expect or want one. She was going to ensure we had this conversation whether I wanted to or not. As I made my way through the hotel toward the side door I couldn't help but ponder the things Lissa had said to me. The last sentence she hadn't been able to complete was what captivated my attention the most. I didn't need the bond to figure out what she might have said. The unsaid portion of her question rang through my mind as clear as the part she had spoken. _Who are you trying to convince, me or yourself?_

The question she posed was legitimate, and if I had to be truthful with myself my answer would have to be both of us. Although, I was sure—and I knew she was sure too—that I had been trying to convince myself more than her. I wanted to let Dimitri go. I wanted to let him be a part of my past. But…that was the thing. I _wanted_. I hadn't let go of him. Of the time we spent together. Of the love we shared. I couldn't. Not when my daughter—our daughter—resembled him and reminded me of him so much. I loved Sasha more than anything else in this world, but Lissa was right. Sasha was my tie to him. As long as I had her I would always be connected to Dimitri. Sasha was my link to the past. My link to him. She was the child we had made together. The child Dimitri didn't know he had.

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I would have walked right passed the side door Ryan was outside of if it hadn't been made of glass. I pushed the door open and Ryan stepped out of the Miami heat and into the coolness of the building. He visibly wiped sweat from his brow as he let the door close shut behind him.

"I knew it was hot in Miami, but this heat is almost unbearable," said Ryan. "I'm glad most of our activities will be done at night. It should be a little bit cooler." The hallway we were in was empty except for us. No one was around to hear what we had to say. "Christian's group is checking in now. Eddie walked by me to reach the door he will be entering through." Ryan gave me a curious look. "Are you okay?"

We walked toward the elevator Lissa and Sasha had taken up to our floor. It was out of sight from the front desk so Chad wouldn't see my new companion. "I'm fine, but having my best friend for a charge can get weary at times. For the most part it's the best thing in the world, but them there are times when it becomes overwhelming."

"Let me guess," he said. "Lissa brought up the one topic you absolutely won't talk about. This must have something to do with your mentor, right?" Ryan knew about my relationship with Dimitri, but he also knew about my reluctance to talk about it.

"Yeah, she's trying to goad me into saying I still—" I immediately stopped speaking. I had been about to say Lissa was trying to goad me into saying I still had feelings for Dimitri. There was nothing wrong with telling that to Ryan, but the thing was I didn't want to say it to _myself_. Admitting I still loved Dimitri would just prove Lissa right. I couldn't do that. I wouldn't do that. I couldn't subject myself to that kind of hurt again because that was what the underlying problem was: my desire to never be hurt again. "You know what, it doesn't matter. It's not that important. Lissa and I will talk about this later."

Our steps faltered as we approached the elevator. Ryan reached out to press the button that would call the elevator to us. The doors slid open immediately and Ryan and I entered. I pressed twenty-four so the elevator would take us to our floor. As we road up, I relayed our room number to Ryan and told him about the plans Lissa had made with the receptionist to give us a tour of the city. Ryan shook his head at Lissa wanting to get up at four in the afternoon—which was night for us—just to go shopping.

Our conversation was cut short when our ride paused on the fifteenth floor to pick up a human woman. She offered us an innocent smile, which we returned out of courtesy, as she entered and asked me to press the key that would command the elevator to stop and let her off on the twentieth floor. Ryan and I exchanged looks because we both knew who this woman was. The hotel we were staying in could only be described as a luxury hotel and only the richest people could afford to stay here. The woman standing in front of us didn't look like a high roller you would expect to find in the human society. She looked more like she worked for the high rollers.

And worked she did. This woman was a prostitute. The lingerie barely covering her slim figure was a dead giveaway. As was the fact that she was leaving the fifteenth floor to go to the twentieth. She was on her way to take quite a bit of money off some rich guys hands in return for a few favors. The smell rolling through the elevator wrapped around me like a caress and flooded my senses. It was the smell of sex. And from the strength of the scent emitted by the woman I could tell she had made _a lot_ of money today. It wasn't even ten minutes passed eight o'clock in the human morning and this woman smelled like she had been working for a few long hours. And her day was, I'm sure, only getting started. Once everyone began waking up I was sure she would have an extremely busy day ahead of her.

The elevator stopped again and the prostitute exited with a sigh and flip of her hair. When the doors closed Ryan and I remained silent. Neither of us could think of anything to say. The only thing my mind could formulate was the word 'wow', but my lips wouldn't part to emit any sound. Ryan must have been faced with the same dilemma because he looked like he badly wanted to say something but couldn't find the right words.

The _ding _made by the opening elevator doors kept us from having to say a word. We had reached our floor and the walking distance to our room wasn't far. We exited the elevator and made our way to room 2406. I pulled out the card key Lissa had handed me earlier as we had made our way to the elevators. When the lock clicked open the door slid back to reveal a room that looked just like the ones my school had stayed in when we went to the ski lodge in Idaho.

"It's a penthouse suite," said Lissa. She was coming from what must have been a sitting room. "There are three bedrooms. One for me. One for Ryan. And one for Rose and Sasha."

My eyes searched the room scouting for danger I knew I wouldn't find. "Speaking of Sasha, where is she?" I hadn't seen her when my eyes swept the room.

A smile crossed Lissa's face as she thought of Sasha. "She is in your room sleeping. She wants to be well rested for the shopping trip." She turned to Ryan questioningly.

"I already know about that. Rose informed me we would be taking a tour of the city too," said Ryan. He had searched the room too and he had found another missing component. "Where are our bags?"

"Oh," said Lissa. "I put everyone's bags in their room." She grabbed Ryan arm. "Come on, I'll show you your room. Rose yours is the one straight ahead." She pointed to where she had come from. So she hadn't been in a living room. She had been in my room putting Sasha to sleep.

"Liss, you really need to have some kids of your own," I joked.

She had disappeared around a corner, but I could easily hear the laugh she let out. As it faded I made my way in the direction Lissa had indicated. I momentarily paused to take off my shoes because the carpet was so soft I didn't need them. My feet sank into the carpet as I made my way toward my and Sasha's room. As I did, I mentally noted how comfortable it would be to sleep on the floor.

The room I entered was full of light and Sasha was curled up on the middle of the King sized bed. I smiled to myself as I took in her sleeping form. She was beautiful when she slept. She looked so at peace.

Carefully, after taking a quick shower to wash the sweat off my body, I climbed onto the bed as not to wake Sasha, and rested my head on one of the fluffy pillows. The radiant sunlight bounced around the room creating for a warm peaceful atmosphere easy to fall asleep in.

As I closed my eyes my mind unconsciously took me back to the conversation Lissa and I had while waiting on the elevator. _Miracles and star-crossed lovers just don't exist. Plus, that part of my life is in the past_. Those had been my words. Words I had wholeheartedly believed in. Words I still believed in. But I was beginning to question the part about that part of my life still being in the past. Could it really be in the past when I still carried the hurt from the day Dimitri left me? Could it really be in the past when my daughter was a constant reminder of what we had? Could it really be left in the dust when my past kept invading my present?

_Maybe it isn't your intent, but it's when we're not looking that we find what we've been searching for_. That was my last conscious thought before sleep took over. Only I didn't drift into the blackness of sleep. I wasn't in a spirit dream. I was in a world my mind had created. A world in which the words _what we really want, what we need_ floated through the air and my mind. Then a voice that didn't belong to me rang out. It was faint, but it was definitely there. I had heard it. And I knew who it belonged to.

"_Maybe it isn't your intent, but it's when we're not looking that we find what we've been searching for." _The voice grew lower still as it repeated the phrase. My mind formed the name of the speaker just as the blackness of true sleep pulled me in.

_Dimitri_.

**I know this chapter wasn't as long as the last two, but I absolutely had to end it right here. It seemed like the ideal place to stop. Sorry if you were disappointed with the length, but in fairness this chapter was still almost ten pages long. **

**I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter.**

**R&R!**

**As always I apologize for any mistakes you may have come across during your reading. **


	8. AN:

AN:  
>Hi everyone. I apologize for my lack of updating, but I have been very busy lately. Between school work and having to complete college application and write essays, I haven't really found time to work on my story.<p>

However, I do have some of the next chapter written. I am going to post what I have as a sneak peak. Once I finish the chapter I will take it down and replace it with the finished and revised version. I hope you guys like what I have so far. It's not very long, but it should do for now. Enjoy.

Click the NEXT button to view the sneak peak of the next chapter. Don't forget to send a review and tell me what you all think!


	9. Chapter 7

**A/N:  
>If at any point during the continuation of this story you have questions, concerns, criticism, or ideas, please, please, please let me know!<strong>

**In the meantime R&R!**

**Please review! It makes me very happy to hear what you all have to say!**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, except the story line or any new character(s) introduced.**

Shaking brought me out of my peaceful slumber. The interruption was not welcome. My body wanted to stay in bed, but some deep part of my subconscious wanted me to wake up and give my attention to whoever was waking me from sleep. For some unfathomable reason my subconscious won out.

Rolling over, I opened my eyes to find a pair of dark eyes staring at me. The eyes brought the dream I had before drifting into complete darkness flooding back to my memory. The dream hadn't been bad, just weird and unexpected. It had been about what Lissa had said to me. Dimitri had also been present. I rarely ever dreamed about him, but I rarely ever dreamed—except for when Adrian pulled me into a spirit-induced dream, and lately those had been few and far between.

"Uh, mom, are you up," asked Sasha. "You have to get ready. Aunt Lissa said we have to be down in the lobby at four o'clock."

Sitting upright on the bed I began searching the room for a clock. "What time is it? Can't I have just a few more minutes?" At the moment I felt like the daughter asking her mother to let her sleep late.

Sasha shook her head disapprovingly at me and pointed behind me. I turned in the direction she indicated and located a digital clock embedded in the bed's headboard—I had never seen anything like that before, I didn't even know it was possible. "Mom, it's 3:30. You need to get ready or we'll be late."

"You just don't want to be late because you want to optimize your shopping time," I stated.

She shrugged and motioned me toward the huge bathroom connected to our room. "Go take your shower and get ready. Aunt Lissa and I picked out your outfit after she got me ready. You'll find it in the bathroom. Now get moving, you don't want to keep Aunt Lissa waiting."

I gave Sasha an incredulous look. "Just so we're clear, I'm the mother and you're the daughter. You are not allowed to take my role. I give the orders around here."

Sasha laughed at that and pointed to the bathroom again. "You're wasting time."

I had a smart comment for that, but I held my tongue. "Humph, I'm going. I'm going." Despite my words, Sasha really had been acting like the mother in this relationship. She had a lot of her father in her, and just like Dimitri, she would set me straight when I was out of line. It boggled me at times how my three year old was like an adult in so many ways. It also worried me that she was so accelerated intellectually; it made me ponder possible side effects of her being born to two dhampir parents.

As I closed the bathroom door, I could hear Sasha laughing at me as I pushed my worries out of my head and took a hasty shower and found the outfit Lissa and Sasha had picked out. It was nice but still practical. If I had to suddenly jump into a fight my clothing wouldn't be a liability. The shoes, however, were a different matter. The heels weren't high, but they weren't low either. They would cause all kinds of problems in a fight—broken or twisted ankles and myriad other things that would halt my progress in taking down my enemy—unless I got creative and used the shoe to gouge out an eyeball, which was highly unlikely.

Both Lissa and Sasha were waiting for me when I exited the bathroom. They whisked me out of the room so quickly that I didn't have time to change my shoes. In the living room that doubled as a kitchen, Mia and Avery were waiting for us with their guardians. Before I could inquire about Avery's presence, Lissa sent me a message through the bond. _It's a girl's outing, and I didn't want Avery feeling left out if I didn't invite her_. A nod of my head told her I understood.

"Hey, Sasha!" Exclaimed Mia. She loved my daughter, although, there weren't any of my friends who didn't. They all treated Sasha as if she was their child. Only they hadn't had to carry her for nine months and experience the pains of child birth.

"Hey, Mia," said Sasha, hopping into Mia's arms. She offered a silent wave to Avery. She obviously still didn't like her much. Avery waved back in return and gave Sasha a warm smile.

A brief scan of the room alerted me to the fact that only one guy would be accompanying us today. Of course he was a guardian on duty. "The rest of the guys won't be coming I presume," I said.

"Nope," replied Guardian Austin Reynolds. "Lucky them," he said. "If I had it my way I would still be asleep too." He pushed his black hair from his face and I saw a sparkle in his blue eyes, which brought out the flecks of green and brown in them. It took me only a matter of seconds to remember that he was providing protection for Avery.

"I completely agree," I said.

Lissa shook her head at me. "Rose, stop complaining. You can sleep when we return."

"And when will that be," I asked.

"Before 7:30," said Mia. "We have to be back in time for breakfast."

I didn't bother to argue that after breakfast I still wouldn't be able to sleep. The Moroi would want to experience the infamous night scene that Miami had to offer, which would prevent me from going to bed.

"Yes, and if we intend to return in time we need to head down to the lobby now," said Lissa. She wasn't slick. She just wanted more time to shop. I didn't voice my opinion though.

Instead I opened the door to the room double checking my pockets on the way to ensure I had my card key. "Let's go people. You heard Princess Dragomir. Her shopping spree is more important than our rest." I ushered everyone out of the room as I spoke, but I didn't miss the dirty look Lissa gave me as she walked past.

"Am I going to have to separate you two," asked Guardian Reynolds. He was obviously comfortable enough with my group of friends to joke around although my gut told me he was just being his usual witty self.

"As long as you put me in my room, lock the door and throw away the key so I can sleep I'll gladly let you separate us," I half joked.

"Rose," Lissa chastised me.

"What," I asked, looking her in the eye. "I was just offering a suggestion."

Just then the elevator doors opened to admit our party, effectively halting any retort on Lissa's lips. As I glanced around the confined space I saw Mia shaking her head at my antics. I attempted to raise a questioning eyebrow at her but failed.

"Still can't do it, huh," she said. I ignored her teasing and she successfully raised her left eyebrow just to spite me.

A chuckle was emitted from the front of the elevator as we began our descent. "You all sure are a fun group," said Guardian Yuran. "I should spend more time with you."

"I don't think it's us you want to spend more time with, Felicia," I said, causing her cheeks to burn a red to rival that of her hair, which only confirmed my thought. It wasn't us she wanted to lounge around with, just one of our close friends. If she was going to joke around and hand out with any of us it would be Max. The rest of us came in at a distant second.

"Rose," she said, trying but failing to hide her embarrassment. "We're on duty. Leave my personal life out of this."

A smirk crossed my face and Guardian Yuran's eyes widened with the knowledge that I was not about the let this subject drop. Instead I was about to delve deeper into it. "So you admit you want to get _personal _with him."

She looked absolutely scandalized at my comment and inclined her head in Sasha's direction to which I shrugged my shoulders. I was confident she wouldn't be able to decipher the hidden meaning behind my comment.

Lissa, however, looked curious. Her interest had just been piqued. Through the bond I could already feel the wheels turning in her mind. "Him who," she asked.

Lissa wasn't the only one interested. My daughter pulled on the sleeve of my shirt to grab my attention. "Yeah, mom. Who are you talking about?"

Guardian Yuran shot me a pleading look and Mia shook her head. Guardian Reynolds, however, looked curious.

I allowed a small smile to ghost my lips before I spoke. "Max," I said. The wheels in Lissa's head began to spin faster as she contemplated all the ways she could help Guardian Yuran capture Max's affections.

_Bingo_. I thought. I looked right at Lissa and then at Sasha. "Now, if you two want to play matchmaker focus your efforts on Max and _Felicia_." Afterwards I added an unspoken _and leave me out of it_, as the elevator doors chimed open revealing the luxurious lobby we entered upon arrival.

From my vantage point I had a perfect view of the lobby, so I was the first to spot Chad as we all exited the elevator. "Chad is waiting for us near the end of the receptionist desk," I pointed out to Lissa who had been probing every inch of the room for our human escort.

As we made our way over to him, I was confident Lissa was too preoccupied with the prospect of making Max and Felicia a couple to think twice about my love woes—or lack thereof depending upon which one of us you asked.

"Chad," Lissa called out to notify him of our approach. He turned to face our group.

Off to my side I head Guardian Reynolds speak. "Max, huh," he said to Guardian Yuran, causing her to blush again.

"Drop it, Austin," she responded.

"You wound me, Felicia." His voice carried an inflection that countered his words. "And here I thought we had something special. I was even planning to invite you out to a romantic dinner in a five star restaurant with only the best champagne." He dramatically dropped his head and clutched his chest where his heart laid beating beneath.

A small smile crossed her lips as she spoke. "Austin you would have made an awesome actor if you weren't in your current field. I might have even believed you if I didn't know you have your heart set on wooing Lyanna Strider." That was something I definitely hadn't been privy to. It was most certainly news to me.

He gave her a coy boyish grin that I'm sure he made use of a lot while he was in school. "Ah, so you heard about that did you," he asked, casting a sideways glance at Felicia.

She gave him an impish grin in return. "I have my sources," she said and walked over to Mia, her charge, who was greeting our tour guide.

Austin's darting eyes met mine. "You heard all of that didn't you, Rose?"

"Yes. And I can help you if you want." Although the question had been directed my way the voice that offered up a reply didn't belong to me. It had been Sasha. She had been trailing behind me, but as she spoke she hopped into my waiting arms.

"Really, and how would you accomplish that," he asked my daughter.

She shot him a half smile as she uttered a reply. "Just trust me. I have my ways," she said ominously.

Austin and I both chuckled at that. "Well," he said, "I guess you're hired then."

We reached our party gathered around Chad, and Lissa began introductions since we had added a few new faces. "This," she said pointing to Mia, "is Mia. The woman standing next to her is Felicia. The woman across from her is Avery." Up until Lissa began introductions it had slipped my mind that Avery was accompanying us today. "Beside her is Austin, and you already know Rose and Sasha," she concluded. Our group was a bit small today, but only because the Moroi only needed one guardian each, seeing as we were going to be out during the human day.

"So I do," said Chad. He reached a hand behind his back and presented a rose to the group. He extended his outstretched hand to me as he spoke. "A pink rose to represent your namesake and your immaculate beauty."

I accepted the gift, but made sure he didn't get any ideas about pursuing a romance with me. There was enough drama of the romantic variety surging through those of us on the trip. We didn't need one more case to add to it. "Thanks," I said, "but don't get any ideas lover boy, I rather like flying solo."

"Call me lover boy again and I'll do anything you want," he said with a flirty lit.

I mentally groaned and let out a sigh. "Let's just get going. I'm sure Lissa is going to blow a gasket if we don't get out of this building within the next five seconds."

As I spoke Lissa nodded her head and headed out the front doors with the rest of our group hot on her tail. Chad was at the front of the group with her so I didn't have to endure his shameless flirting. Honestly it made me uncomfortable. The stigma of dhampirs having sexual relations with Moroi and giving blood while doing it was engrained in my brain, but dhampirs getting with humans was absolutely unfathomable, and there was no way in hell I was going to cross that line. Yeah, I'm a rule breaker, but there are some rules even _I _won't disregard.

"So what are we going to see first," asked Mia, interrupting my thoughts.

"Well," said Lissa, "I was thinking that we could spend all day at the mall, and do some sight seeing another time. We do have the rest of the week to do that." She paused to gauge everyone's response.

From what I could tell everyone was fine with that, so as head guardian I gave the final say so. "That's probably the best idea, Liss. We don't want to do everything in one day. We need something to entertain us for the rest of the week."

Chad, realizing I was the leader of this group, pointed in the Mall's direction. "It's about three miles that way," he said, and I caught what he meant by that statement.

"Chad," I said, "we'll take our rental cars that are parked out back." While I had been changing clothes I received a call from the car company informing us that they had delivered the cars I ordered before we departed court. "Walking would take a while, especially in this heat. If we drive we'll get there faster and they," I said, pointing to Mia, Lissa, Avery, and Sasha, "will have more time to shop." I was on duty so I didn't plan to do any frolicking. I also didn't want the Moroi on this shopping trip affected by the elements.

With that we headed to the cars and made our way to the biggest mall I had ever seen. I had been to the mall plenty of times with Lissa in Missoula, but the mall here in Miami put that one to shame. It made Missoula's mall seem like a shack.

"Wow," said Sasha, sharing a look with Lissa, Mia, and to my surprise Avery.

The looks on all their faces made me groan as I realized that I was in for a long day.

Sharing a look of my own with Felicia and Austin, we followed behind our charges into the mall with Chad leading the way.

**I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter.**

**R&R!**

**As always I apologize for any mistakes you may have come across during your reading.**


	10. Chapter 8

**A/N:  
>If at any point during the continuation of this story you have questions, concerns, criticism, or ideas, please, please, please let me know!<strong>

**In the meantime R&R!**

**Please review! It makes me very happy to hear what you all have to say!**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, except the story line or any new character(s) introduced.**

Lissa walked with Sasha on her hip and Mia beside her completely oblivious to Avery trekking morosely behind them. To be quite honest, I felt a wave of sympathy wash through me toward Avery. The only reason she was on this trip was because of Adrian, who didn't come to the mall with us. It had to be hard on her attempting to fit in with a bunch of people she barely knew.

But as I delved into Lissa's mind I found that she still harbored reservations about Avery. She hadn't forgotten the way Avery had disrespectfully come into her home, and there was also an innate distrust of Avery embedded deep within Lissa that I couldn't comprehend. For some reason Lissa couldn't bring herself to trust the girl she had just met, which confused me to no avail.

Lissa was the friendliest person I knew. She was also quick to forgive and not one to hold on to grudges. So for her to ostracize Avery was beyond me.

Feeling bad for Avery, I walked up beside her with Lissa's and Sasha's many shopping bags lining my right arm. With my free arm I nudged her in the side while still keeping surveillance of my surroundings. "Do you want to talk," I asked.

She gave a start but gave me a small smile when she turned to face me. "No. I'm fine," she said as we made our way into Victoria's Secret. Behind me I could hear Guardian Reynolds teasing Guardian Yuran about 'buying a little something sexy to impress Max'.

Shaking my head I pursued my conversation with Avery. "Don't worry about Lissa." I paused to give the pretense that I was shopping for something and scanned the store for possible threats. "She'll come around. She's not one to hold grudges for long," I said, hoping Lissa wouldn't make a liar out of me, but based on the feelings I gauged from her earlier I wasn't sure if I believed my words.

Avery frowned. "You've forgiven me," she said turning her gaze from a lacy bra to me. "So why hasn't she? I mean I understand that I shouldn't have barged into her house the way I did, but I've tried to atone for that." She sighed. "I just don't understand what I'm doing wrong. I really want Lissa to like me."

I gave a sigh of my own. "I don't think it's so much what you're not doing so much as what Adrian didn't do." I didn't want to tell her that Lissa just flat out didn't trust her.

She raised an arched eyebrow at me. I was really starting to get annoyed that everyone but me could do that. "What do you mean?"

"Lissa and Adrian are like this," I said, crossing my index and middle fingers. "She's probably offended that he didn't feel the need to introduce the love of his life to her."

Avery still wore a look of confusion as she perused the lingerie. "But Lissa is _your _best friend, not Adrian's."

"They're connected in ways that she and I aren't," I said. "They understand each other in a way I can't."

Understanding lit up her face. "You mean the spirit, don't you?"

I nodded.

She frowned in thought before she spoke. "But that doesn't explain why she would be so mad he didn't tell her. I know Adrian," she said. "He just wanted to be sure of his feelings before he introduced me to the people he's closest to."

This time I frowned. "We know Adrian too, especially Lissa. They've shared so much having to learn spirit together." I paused, not entirely comfortable discussing this with Avery. "I guess Lissa just feels like she and Adrian have shared so much that there would be no barriers within their friendship. Nothing they wouldn't be able to discuss or talk about—"

Avery throwing down the lingerie she had clutched in her hand stopped me midsentence. "Well I'm sorry if Lissa feels that way, but Adrian is happy with me. If they are so close then she should be happy that he's happy."

A shift of my eyes found Lissa with Sasha sniffing perfumes. Neither of them had noticed anything amiss with my conversation with Avery.

"Lissa," I said through my teeth, not pleased with the way Avery was talking about her, "has the right to feel whatever way she wants. If she wants to be angry because one of her closest friends wasn't forthcoming with her she can very well be that."

Avery and I stared each other down.

She was the one to break the silence. "_You_ should know how she feels. You shouldn't have to speculate and guess. You should just know. You two _are _bonded—" she abruptly closed her mouth like she had said too much.

I narrowed my eyes at her. "What makes you say that," I asked, not wanting to confirm her statements.

I saw a spark of something in her eyes before she spoke, but it was gone as soon as it came. But whatever it was rubbed me the wrong way. "Adrian," was all she said before she stormed out of the store.

I was beginning to think that Lissa's suspicions weren't completely unfounded. Quickly scanning the room I found Guardian Reynolds pretending to help Guardian Yuran pick out lingerie for the sake of not raising the attention of the humans that we weren't ordinary shoppers.

Walking as quickly and nondescriptly over to the "couple" as I could manage, I pulled Guardian Reynolds aside and quietly advised him to keep a close eye on his charge. He didn't argue. He nodded his head in compliance and waltzed out the store and winked in Guardian Yuran's direction before he cleared the exit.

She rolled her eyes and inclined her head to my arm. "Would you like me to carry some of those," she asked, referring to all the shopping bags I had on my arm.

"No, I'm fine, thanks," I replied, my conversation with Avery still fresh in my mind.

"You won't be once they reach us," She said, directing my attention to Lissa and my daughter who were approaching, both carrying four bags each.

I groaned. "Liss, what did you do, buy the entire store?"

"Just a few things," she said, smiling down at Sasha. "Plus Sasha thought it would be a good idea to shop for you since you won't do it yourself."

"Yeah, mom," said Sasha. "We were only thinking of you," she said innocently, handing me her bags.

"Maybe if you made them carry their own bags they would reach a shopping limit," Mia said, laughing at my expense.

I couldn't help it; I let out a chuckle. "Maybe I should try that," I said to Mia. "Then they might let me go home early and get some rest."

"I doubt that," Guardian Yuran said over her shoulder as she led us out the store. "Is anyone else up for a visit to the food court?"

Smiling, I placed some of my bags in her outstretched hands. "Now you're speaking my language," I said.

"Mine too," said Sasha. "Come on, Aunt Lissa," she said, clutching Lissa's hand and dragging her along behind her. "I'm hungry."

Lissa laughed but let herself be dragged away by my daughter. "Meet you guys there," she called over her shoulder.

Guardian Yuran followed close behind them since she didn't have as many bags weighing her down. But before I could take one step, Mia nudged me in my side almost sending me sprawling to the floor. I forgot she was getting stronger because of her offensive training.

Before I could say anything she looked directly to our right. I followed her eyes and spotted Avery having a heated conversation with Chad, our human tour guide.

My alarms were instantly raised. What reason would Avery have to argue with our tour guide, a human one at that? Either she was an extremely abrasive person or she was having a bad day. Either way I planned to find out.

I turned to Mia and handed her my bags. "Take these and find Lissa, Sasha, and Guardian Yuran," I said.

"Sure, but what are you going to do," she asked.

When I faced Mia, my face must have said I meant business because she instantly stopped questioning me and did as I said. My friends were used to me being fun and laid back, but when I was in guardian mode they knew not to question me. They just acted because most of the time their lives depended on it.

When Mia was out of my sight, I made my way over to Avery and Chad. I positioned myself behind a statue of children with water shooting from various parts of their bodies to hear their conversation without being seen. I had to inch a bit closer in order to hear due to the sound of the water, but I finally got within hearing range.

Looking up I saw Guardian Reynolds in a store directly across from the bickering duo staring intently in their direction.

Letting my gaze shift back to Avery and Chad, I made a note to question him about what had led up to this heated exchange, but right now my focus was on listening to their conversation.

Edging a bit closer to the two, I heard Avery's raised voice. She sounded frantic but adamant as she accosted our tour guide. "I don't care," she yelled. "I want to go back!"

Chad was more composed than Avery, but his body language definitely alluded to him being pissed off, as did his tone when he responded to Avery. He wasn't yelling, but there was an underlying hint of animosity and malice in his voice as he spoke. "Are you sure that's what you want to do," his voice was low and dangerous, "because there is no coming back. I have to stay—"

"I don't care," Avery screeched. "You don't think I know this already! I…don't…care," she said between her teeth. "And I don't care what you have to do to make it happen, I want it done!" There was a finality in her voice that sent chills down my spine.

I wasn't sure what I was witnessing, but something was amiss. Avery had been speaking to Chad like they weren't complete strangers. But that was impossible. How would Avery have connections to a human hotel worker in Miami, when she lived at court?

Or at least I thought she did, but honestly, what did any of us really know about this girl?

I was so wrapped up in my thoughts I almost missed what Chad said next. "Fine. I'm going to take you back now, but I need to make a call first." He paused. "And let Rose or Lissa know that I'm taking you back to the hotel."

Avery didn't respond she just stormed off with her regal nosed turned up.

Before Chad could make the phone call he told Avery he was going to make, his phone rang.

With a heavy and tired look in his eyes he picked up the phone. "Hello," he said into the receiver.

I could only hear one side of the conversation, so I paid close attention to what Chad was saying.

"Approximately six," he said after a couple moments as he listened to the person on the other end of the call.

He was silent for a couple more minutes as he listened to the caller. I couldn't hear what the other person was saying even as I inched a bit closer, but I could discern a feminine quality to the voice. "I'm not sure exactly. That's something you're going to have to figure out."

More silence ensued. "One week," he said. "That's all you have, so make the most of it." With another heavy sigh he said, "Sure, I'm looking forward to it," and abruptly ended his call.

He began to walk away and I walked around the statue at a pace that would allow me to intercept him. I wasn't sure what I would say when I found him because I couldn't outright demand to know exactly what he and Avery were arguing about without revealing I had been eavesdropping.

Rounding the statue I nearly bumped into Chad, who looked stunned to see me.

There was an awkward silence before I said, "I was just on my way to the food court," I paused before I spoke my next sentence. "I was looking for Avery, but I couldn't find her. We had a little disagreement and I wanted to make sure she was okay," I said, scrutinizing his reaction.

Relief spread across his face and I raised my eyebrows. "That's exactly what I wanted to talk to you about," he said. "Avery was really upset about that and decided to take her frustration out on me, but I eventually agreed to take her back to the hotel. I told her I needed to stay here with you guys, but she didn't really care and demanded that I take her back. I just wanted to let you or Lissa know where I was going before I left and you couldn't find me."

I nodded my head in understanding.

He continued on. "I'm also going to have to leave you guys early. My sister called and said our parents are out of town and she doesn't know when they're returning home," he paused, looking sheepish. "I'm pretty sure you don't want to hear about my family woes but I promised I would be at the house by six o'clock because her prom is coming up and I have to take her shopping since our parents aren't here," he paused to catch his breath. "I'm also not going to be very available outside of work this week because I gave her a week of my time to get everything she needs for prom." He looked at me with an apologetic smile on his face. "Fun, right?"

I gave a small smile in return feeling bad about suspecting him of anything malicious. "It's fine," I said. "Do what you have to do. Honestly, we'll be fine. We can make it back to the hotel on our own. You don't have to come back after you drop Avery off." I waved my hand toward one of the many exits in the mall. "Go be with your sister," I said.

"Are you sure," he asked. "Because I can come back if you guys need me to."

"Positive," I said. "We'll be fine."

"Alright then," he said. "I guess I'll see you guys later then." He waved in farewell and turned to leave.

Before he was out of hearing range I called out to him. "Chad," I said, loud enough for him to hear me.

He turned back to look at me.

"I apologize for Avery's behavior toward you," I said.

He shrugged. "Nothing I can't handle," he said. "Let everyone know I said good bye," he said before starting toward the exit again. I was so engrossed in my thoughts I didn't notice that this was the first time Chad hadn't tried to flirt with me before a departure.

Turning on my heels, I headed to the food court and steeped into stride with Guardian Reynolds on the way. I recounted everything that I heard and that Chad told me to him.

A frown spread across his face. "I'll keep an eye on this situation," he said, referring to his charge. He didn't come outright and say he didn't trust her, but I could see the wariness written clearly in his eyes. He then turned and began heading for the exit at a slight jog. "I have to catch up to Chad and Avery, and escort my charge back to the hotel," he called over his shoulder as he cleared the exit. It wouldn't take him long to catch them. Chad had exited the mall not even two minutes before Austin.

When I finally reached the food court, my group was sitting at a table in the center of the room laughing. When I approached, Sasha hopped from Lissa's lap and bounded into my waiting arms.

When she was comfortable she turned in my arms to face me. "Mom, I bought you an éclair," she said.

I smiled at her and frowned at the clear table. "Where is it," I asked, my stomach growling on cue.

She pointed to her stomach. "You were taking too long so I ate it so it wouldn't go bad."

I feigned outrage at Sasha eating my food. "Did anyone save me anything?"

Lissa laughed as she handed me a Five Guys bag. "A cheeseburger and fries," she said.

A smile spread across my face. "Now that's more like it," I said, taking a seat with Sasha in my lap.

I opened my bag and dug in, with Sasha's help of course.

"Where's Avery," asked Guardian Yuran, as I stuffed my mouth with French fries.

At first the question didn't register with Lissa, then she scanned our group and noticed Avery's absence. I thought back to earlier today when Lissa said she had to invite Avery to the mall with us so she wouldn't feel left out. So much for that sentiment. "And Chad and Austin," she added.

"Avery wasn't in the mood for shopping, so Chad and Austin are taking her back to the hotel," I said between bites of my burger. I also relayed Chad's dilemma with his sister.

"That's too bad," said Lissa, and that was all she had to say on the situation.

A quick check of the bond clued me in on the fact that Lissa wasn't happy Avery left, but she also wasn't bent out of shape. She still didn't care too much for her. I made a mental note to question her about that later.

"So," Mia said, drawing out the word. "Are we going to continue shopping or are we heading back to the hotel too."

Lissa and Sasha looked at Mia as if she had taken complete leave of her senses.

"Of course," I said. "No sleep for the weary." I rose from my seat with Sasha in tow and threw away my empty bag. "Where to now?"

"There," Lissa said, pointing at a huge store at the far end of the mall.

I turned a second later to follow her finger and missed the raven haired woman exiting the Forever 21 Lissa was pointing toward.

"Fine," I said, letting Sasha leap from my arms and run to Mia, who was standing next to Lissa. "Let's go."

Guardian Yuran shook her head, but kept pace with me as we trailed behind our charges as they made their way to yet another store.

I glanced at all the bags she and I were carrying between the two of us and shook my head too.

"Long day," she mouthed to me.

"You know it," I mumbled back, entering the store behind Lissa, Mia, and Sasha.

**I hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter.**

**R&R!**

**As always I apologize for any mistakes you may have come across during your reading.**

**Do you guys think the gang is being fair in their mistrust of Avery? Let me know in a review. This chapter might not seem like much, but it is a very pivotal point in the story. But, all will be revealed in due time. **** I feel so evil for leaving you guys hanging right here because things are definitely about to pick up. **


	11. Chapter 9

**A/N:  
>If at any point during the continuation of this story you have questions, concerns, criticism, or ideas, please let me know!<strong>

**In the meantime R&R!**

**Please review! It makes me very happy to hear what you all have to say!**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, except the story line or any new character(s) introduced.**

By the time Lissa, Sasha, and Mia had finished their shopping and we had all returned to the hotel, the rest of the gang was already gathered for breakfast.

Apparently while we were off satisfying Lissa's need to indulge in frivolous spending, Christian had taken it upon himself to rent out the hotel's dining hall, which was where I found myself now.

As my friends sat around the table conversing, I let my eyes shift around the room scouting for danger. It was officially night time (at least for humans) in Miami and one could never be too careful, even when tucked away in a hotel okayed by the court's guardians.

As my eyes made their second scan of the room I noticed that Adrian sat across from me animatedly talking to one of his guardians. He was flanked on either side by both of his assigned guardians, and to my utter surprise his blushing bride-to-be was nowhere in sight.

Max addressing Adrian interrupted my train of thought.

"Adrian, I hate to point out the obvious," he said, "but where is Avery?"

I obviously wasn't the only one to have noticed her absence this morning.

"I would have thought she would have been glued to your side on this trip with you two about to tie the knot," said Max.

Adrian gave a shrug of his shoulders as if his fiancée not joining him for breakfast was routine. "She had other stuff to do," he said, turning his attention back to Mikhail and continuing their conversation.

Max met my eyes with a perplexed look on his face.

I turned in my seat and shot a questioning glance at Austin, one of Avery's assigned guardians on this trip.

He frowned and popped a piece of cream cheese Danish in his mouth. "She left the mall before I could catch her so I came back here hoping to find her." He paused and took a sip of his water. "She and Simon were gone when I got here." Seeing the dangerous look on my face he continued his explanation. "Since she was with her other guardian I figured she was safe."

A frown crept its way onto my face. For some reason something about Avery had been rubbing me the wrong way since her encounter with Chad at the mall. I didn't know if Lissa's suspicions regarding Avery were creeping through the bond and making me more paranoid when it came to Avery, or if my gut was trying to tell me something. Either way my mistrust of Avery was growing.

Adrian's nonchalant attitude toward any and everything Avery also didn't help matters. It made me wonder exactly how deep their connection really was.

From personal experience I knew that Adrian was a hopeless romantic. He was the type to shower the object of his affection with gifts and well…affection. While, I couldn't speak to what Adrian and Avery did behind closed doors, I had witnessed them together in public a few times, and as far as I could remember the only time I could remember Adrian being affectionate toward Avery was after she all but accused him a cheating on her with me.

While I was in Lissa's head, I had witnessed the chaste kiss he had given her, but it was the only time I could remember him being loving toward her.

It struck me as odd.

Lissa and Sasha entering the dining hall with Ryan trailing behind them brought my thoughts to a standstill.

Lissa and Sasha had purchased more clothes and accessories from the mall than anyone else, and unlike everyone else they couldn't be content with just putting the bags down in their room. They had to look over their loot and put everything away.

It had been both infuriating and entertaining to watch. Five minutes into what I liked to call their mini-fashion show, Ryan had offered to stay with them so that I could come down to breakfast. I had thanked him and made my way to the dining hall in what had to be record time.

Upon entering Christian had made a joke about how the food wasn't going to run away. I of course had ignored him and proceeded to load up my plate.

Christian gave Lissa a kiss as she took her seat beside him and Sasha climbed onto my lap.

"Mom," she said. "You didn't see everything that Aunt Lissa bought me."

I smiled at the slight downcast of her lips. "I didn't need to," I told her, eating the last of my blueberry pancake while still maintaining surveillance of the room. "I carried all your bags. I know exactly how much stuff you have."

Sasha didn't reply she just turned toward the table and reached for my fork. When she was met with my empty plate her frown deepened.

"Why so blue little one, didn't you get everything you wanted at the mall today?"

My father had just entered the room. And as he rounded the table he placed a plate of food in front of Sasha.

She instantly brightened.

"Yes and no," she said in between bites of egg.

I shook my head. "Sasha, you and Lissa nearly bought the entire mall," I said. "How was there anything you didn't get?"

"The bookstore didn't have a novel she wanted," Lissa said turning her attention away from Christian long enough to answer my question and smile at my daughter. "She was really looking forward to getting it."

Sasha turned toward me. "Yeah mom, can we go get it after breakfast?" The look on her face told me all I needed to know. She really wanted that book. I could see the longing in her eyes, which is why I hated to say what I had to say next.

While I would have loved to take Sasha to get the book she wanted, I was technically on duty, and Lissa and Christian had already planned what they would be doing this evening. Unfortunately, bookstores weren't on their to-do list.

Abe, always the observant one, saw the answer in my eyes.

"Of course we can," he said, a hint of a smile on his lip. Honestly the old man was like putty in my daughter's hands. If she wanted it, Abe made it happen. "After you finish your breakfast my guardians and I will take you to go get the book."

Sasha smiled. "Thanks _Zmey_," she said, and dug into her breakfast.

While Sasha sat on my lap eating her breakfast my mind wondered to thoughts I tried to keep buried. And honestly "thoughts" wasn't the right word, "worries" was a more apt term.

Sasha's intellect was something that puzzled and worried me to no avail. While I wasn't opposed to having a child who was smarter than most adults, the fact that she was only three years old and so much more advanced than other children her age was a source of concern for me.

All my life I had been told that it was impossible for dhampirs to have children with other dhampirs, and during my time at the academy my classmates had done their best to prove that true. It was something I never questioned.

At least until I ended up pregnant.

I couldn't believe it at first because the only person I had ever slept with had been a dhampir. However, once the initial shock waned, I couldn't help but wonder what the consequences of my pregnancy would be. After all, there was a reason Mother Nature had made my race genetically stagnant when it came to reproducing with one another.

When Sasha had been born and the doctor placed her in my arms and assured me that my baby was healthy, all my fears had been erased.

At least until recently. As I sat with her on my lap and contemplated the way she communicated, the way she perceived things better than most adults, and her accelerated intelligence I couldn't help but wonder if I had been too quick to let go of my fears.

Sasha acted more like a well behaved teenager than a three year old child, and it just wasn't…natural.

Across the table Lissa caught my eyes and I could feel her question through the bond. She could tell there was something eating at me, but because the bond only worked one way she couldn't pull the thoughts from my head.

As she turned to Christian to continue their conversation I saw the slight downcast of her lips that let me know she wasn't going to forget this. There was definitely going to be an inquisition later.

With a shake of my head I let go of my wayward thoughts and shifted all my attention to my guardian duties.

Lissa and the rest of the Moroi had decided they wanted to hit the clubs tonight, so it was probably a good thing that Abe was taking Sasha to get her book. I highly doubted any club would let her in no matter how advanced she was for her age.

"Are you okay?"

The question had come from beside me.

I turned to look at Max and was about to say that I was fine, but when I saw the look in his eyes I knew I couldn't lie to him.

I could see how much he cared for me and I could tell he knew I was hurting. However, what really made it impossible for me to brush off my fears as nothing was the fact that I could see that my pain caused Max pain.

He was a guardian and he was excellent at keeping a blank face, but at that moment I could see through the mask he presented to the world. Anyone else at the table wouldn't have noticed the pain behind his guardian face, but I could see it as clearly as I could my left hand that was playing with a lock of Sasha's hair.

It was then that I truly realized that I saw Max in a way that other people didn't. Most people saw him as a tough guardian, but I knew there was more to him than that. Behind the blank face he wore as part of his guardian attire, there was a man who was in pain. Not just because he could tell I was hurting. There was more to it than that. There was something that haunted him, something that made him vulnerable. It was something from his past that he just couldn't shake no matter how far he tried to run.

It made me see him in a new light. "We'll talk later," I said low enough so that only he could here.

I don't know what he saw in my eyes, but he held my gaze for a few seconds more before he nodded his head and turned his attention elsewhere.

On my other side I saw Abe rise from his seat followed by his guardians.

He turned to Sasha who had cleared her plate and held out his hand. "Are you ready to go?" he asked.

She nodded and turned to me. "See you later, mommy," she said as she wrapped her little arms around my neck.

I didn't let the shock of her calling me mommy show on my face. Instead I smiled and kissed her forehead and right cheek. "Bye, Sash," I said, using my own term of endearment for her. It was rare that Sasha called me mommy. It was a name she saved for when she was feeling particularly affectionate toward me. She was so much like her father in that regard. "I love you," I said kissing her left cheek this time. "I love you so much."

She smiled and hopped from my lap onto the floor. "Okay," she said turning to her grandfather. "Let's go, _Zmey_."

"And go we shall," he said taking her by the hand as she waved good-bye to the other occupants in the room.

As I watched my father and daughter walk through the door I thought back to my time at the Academy. While I had been a student I had no idea who my father was. All I had known was that he was Turkish and Moroi. I had never thought that I would ever know him let alone actually grow to care for him.

It was rare for dhampirs to have contact with their Moroi parents, especially since most of my kind were the product of one night stands between Moroi men and blood whores.

But against all odds I had met and connected with my father, although I had the slightest inkling that my mother had sent him my way. Regardless of how it happened, it had and I was surprisingly grateful. With my line of work, if anything was to happen to me I could rest easy knowing that Sasha had family who would move Heaven and Earth to provide for her and keep her safe.

My eyes scanned the rest of the rooms' occupants and connected with Max. And unbidden, words Lissa had spoken to me when we first landed in Miami crept into my mind: _It's when we're not looking that we find what we've been searching for_.

**Hi guys! I know I haven't updated in a while, but college and work have kept me pretty busy as of late. Also, I know this chapter is shorter than the rest, but I felt this was a good place to stop.**

**The next chapter is going to be in Sasha's point of view, so brace yourselves. We finally get to get inside that head of hers.**

**What do you guys think of Rose's concerns about Sasha's advanced development; do you think they have any merit? Should they?**

**Let me know what you think in a review.**

**P.S. I might be uploading Sasha's point of view later tonight or tomorrow. **


	12. Chapter 10

**A/N:  
>If at any point during the continuation of this story you have questions, concerns, criticism, or ideas, please let me know!<strong>

**In the meantime R&R!**

**Please review! It makes me very happy to hear what you all have to say!**

**Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Richelle Mead, except the story line or any new character(s) introduced.**

Sasha's Point of View

Ever since the conversation I had with my mom about my father while we were packing her bags for this trip I hadn't been able to rid my mind of thoughts of him. My mom told me more in that day than she ever had before and as she did I could see the warring of emotions taking place within her. The love she bore for him was evident, but there was an underlying element of pain that was also evident. I could see the toll it took on her to divulge the information she gave me, which is why I hadn't pushed her to tell me more.

But I was growing tired of waiting. Not knowing half of where I came from was frustrating and I couldn't help but think about the old adage I sometimes heard the adults use. I was like a glass half empty…or half full depending upon how you looked at the situation.

Some days I was content with the knowledge that I might never know who my father was. And other days (days like today), I was less so.

While I had reservations about prying when it came to my mom, I harbored no such feelings about dragging the information I wanted out of _Zmey_. I knew he and my mom had only recently met, but they were close enough that I knew he had to know something about my father.

In an attempt to make him more forthcoming, I tightened my grip on his hand and looked up at him with a childish innocence that wasn't difficult to fake. "_Zmey_," I said pausing long enough to ponder the right way to ask my question. Because I knew I would only get one. Once his guard was completely up he would be the epitome of tightlipped.

Abe looked down at me with an impish gleam in his eyes that never seemed to dissipate. "Yes," he said pulling me closer to him as to make more room for the group of people walking by us in the opposite direction.

There was a level of wariness about him that I sometimes sensed in my mom and Aunt Lissa. It usually happened when I did or said something that was too advanced for my age, which was pretty often. After spending the summer in Russia with _Zmey_ he had learned to always be slightly on guard around me.

Physically I was only three, but mentally the spokes of my mind turned just as rapidly as the adults, and Abe realized this. It was something my mom and Aunt Lissa also realized, but unlike Abe they weren't sure how to deal with it, which is why it was harder to catch _Zmey_ off guard.

However, it never stopped me from trying.

Again, I looked at him with wide childlike eyes in an attempt to weaken his suspicions. "Why doesn't my daddy want me?" I asked, delivering the question with a pout and tremble of my lips. It wasn't until Abe ran a pale finger down my cheek that I realized I was crying.

It wasn't the question I had been planning to ask, but it was one that I had held close to my heart for a while. It hurt to think that I wasn't wanted. No matter how many times my mom told me it wasn't my fault that my father wasn't around, I couldn't shake the feeling that in some way shape or form I was the reason for his absence.

In Abe's eyes I could see that my confession bothered him. He hadn't been expecting that. Any other question about my father he could have answered in as sly a manner as possible and ended that line of conversation, but this one… This one was different.

The conflict between wanting to reassure me I was the most wanted child in the world and the instinct to shy away from any and all things related to my father was apparent as he signaled for his guardians to take a few steps back.

It was night time and his guardians who were already trailing a couple feet behind us hesitated before they followed orders.

In that moment it became clear that this was the question I should have been asking all along. While it hurt to bring up my deepest fear, it hurt my mom and Abe more to think that I felt I was at all inadequate and incapable of being loved.

In a rare show of affection Abe picked me up and cradled me in his arms, holding me close to his heart. "You, _torun_, are the most loved little girl on the planet." He brought his face closer to mine and in a move to prove his point, pressed his lips to my temple. "Don't you ever doubt that. As long as I still draw breath you never have to worry about that."

He gave me a look so fierce there was no way I could doubt anything he had just said. I snuggled closer to his chest finding comfort in Abe's arms. It was rare that I found myself here and even rarer still that he referred to me as _torun_. It was the Turkish word for granddaughter and it was only the second time I had known him to use it. I couldn't even remember the first time. I just remember my mom telling me that he called me that right after she gave birth to me. She had asked him what it meant and he had told her.

His eyes darted ahead of us until he found what he was looking for. "The bookstore is a couple of buildings up," he said. As an afterthought he added, "and I know of your father," his stride never faltered as he neared closer to the bookstore. "If he knew about you there is no way your mother would be able to keep him from you." He delivered that with an air of finality as his near guard melted from the shadows and opened the door enough for us to enter.

I didn't question him although his admission did make me feel a tiny bit better. I did, however, notice from the tone of his voice that he didn't entirely approve of my mother keeping me from my father. I didn't comment on it though; I just stored it away for later.

"Would you like for me to come with you," he asked as he set me gently on my feet. He nodded by way of greeting to the woman working the counter.

I was halfway to the 'L' aisle when I responded. "No, I'll come get you when I'm ready to go," I said not stopping to turn back and look at him.

After the long wait I was finally going to get the book I wanted.

I knew my mom didn't understand my love of western fiction but there was just something about the old west that drew me in.

A third of the way down the aisle I spotted my favorite author's name: Louis L'Amour. He was the first western author I had been exposed to and he was by far my favorite. He had a way of writing that pulled me in and made me feel like I was right on the prairie with his characters.

There were tons of books on the self with his name on them, but the one in particular that I wanted was _The Quick and the Dead_. It was one of the few novels written by him that I had neither read nor owned.

Scanning the shelves of books, I spotted the one I wanted. Unfortunately, it was situated on the very top self and out of my reach.

With a slight frown I looked up and down the aisle and found it empty. There was no one around to get the book down for me.

Placing my hand on the old wood of the bookshelf my frown deepened and I mentally chastised myself for not allowing Abe to come with me. Getting the book down would have been no problem for his Moroi height. Running my hand up and down the self in a manner that would have gotten me reprimanded by my mom about the possibility of splinters, an idea struck me.

Shaking my head, I ignored the voice of reason that sounded like a mixture between my mom and Aunt Lissa and placed my right foot on the bottom shelf gearing myself to make the climb to the top. If I was going to be a tough guardian someday I couldn't be afraid of anything, let alone heights.

Ignoring my better judgment, I swung my left foot onto the first shelf praying to whoever was listening that it wouldn't give way under my added weight. After a few seconds I realized that I was still in place and the bookshelf was sturdier than I initially thought. With a mischievous smile I continued my ascent to the top.

The smell of old books assaulted my senses as I climbed, but it was oddly comforting. The familiar smell made what I was doing less frightening. When I finally reached the top I pulled the book from its resting place and admired the cover.

Only when I tried to make my way down was I faced with a new dilemma: I couldn't climb down and carry the book at the same time. "The woes of being three," I muttered to myself.

It took all of two seconds for another plan to pop into my head.

Turning, I dropped the book to the floor and got my first glance at the ground from this height. I had to be at least six feet in the air and suddenly the fear of falling became a real thought. If I hit the ground from this height I would be severely injured.

I closed my eyes in an attempt to suppress my fear and shifted my feet. My palms had become sweaty and I wiped them one at a time on my pants.

Blowing out a breath I lowered my right foot toward the shelf beneath me. "It's now or never," I said to myself, casting one last glance at the ground.

Only this time it began to spin toward me, slowly at first then faster. I had lost my footing. Closing my eyes I braced myself for impact.

When I finally made contact with the ground it was softer than I had imagined. I was pretty confident that was my adrenalin suppressing the pain though. When I tried to move I was met with resistance and I knew for sure I had broken every bone in my body. As I lay on the ground waiting for someone to come find me, I noted the fresh sent of the carpet. It was nice, a little bit spicy but still pleasant.

"At least they use nice shampoo on the carpet," I said surprised to hear my voice. I would have thought with the nasty fall I had taken and my inability to move, my voice would have been rendered useless.

"I'm pretty sure that's my aftershave you smell," said a voice above me, interrupting me as I was about to call out for help. I could detect a hint of a smile in his voice.

My eyes sprang open and I was met with kind brown eyes. I took in my surroundings and came to the quick realization that I hadn't hit the ground. This man had caught me before I could do any real damage, and it was his strong grip that had made it impossible for me to move.

"Thank you," I said. I shifted my weight, but not in an attempt to free myself from his arms. The scent of his aftershave was very enticing, so much so I found myself completely content in this stranger's arms.

His eyes shifted around the room as far as he could see before he spoke. "You're very welcome," he said. There was a familiar quality to his voice, but I couldn't put my finger on it. "Who did you come here with? I can take you to them if you like." He brushed a wayward stand of his hair behind his ear that instantly fell back into his face the moment he removed his hand.

"You don't need to go to the trouble," I said as I looked over my body to ensure everything was still in working condition. I didn't miss the look of surprise on his face though.

"How old are you?" he asked. There was genuine curiosity in his voice as he rose to his feet with me in his arms. With his height I was shocked he moved so gracefully.

I noticed how his eyes were on me and the entire room at the same time, and whatever I was about to say was forgotten. "You're a guardian," I said, equally surprised. Normally, I was quick to notice my own kind but I had assumed this guy was human. Dhampirs usually didn't grow to his height.

"And you could have seriously been injured." He looked from me to the bookshelf to the Louis L'Amour novel he now held in his left hand. His look turned puzzled as he really looked at the novel. "You went through all that trouble to get this?" He held the book up in his hand. "Not that it isn't a great book, I've read it a couple of times." The look on his face turned far away and I could tell he was deep in a memory.

"You've read it!" I exclaimed bringing him back to reality. This guy was really beginning to grow on me. "What do you think of Louis L'Amour?" I was so excited I was bouncing in his arms. "I adore his books. He's my favorite author."

There was a ghost of a smile on his face as he answered. "I share you sentiment," he said, and it hit me why he seemed so familiar.

He reminded me of Max.

"You're Russian," I said matter-of-factly.

"And you are avoiding my question," he returned, the smile still playing at his lips.

I looked up at him confused.

"Your age," he said, eyes still roving around the aisle. "You seem a bit young to be reading L'Amour."

"My mom would probably agree with you," I said, moving around in his arms again to better look him in the eyes. "She doesn't understand my fascination with westerns." I tilted my head to the side in thought. "She also thinks I'm too young to be reading novels." Pausing, I contemplated my last statement. "Correction," I said, "She doesn't believe in reading for fun. It once took her a year to read the DaVinci Code. Although," I added, "in her defense she doesn't have much time for reading these days."

The ghost of a smile on the guy's face morphed into a genuine one. "Your mother sounds like someone I used to know a long time ago." Again he had that faraway look on his face, but there was a glint of something in his eyes. It looked like regret maybe, but it was gone before I could really get a good look.

I frowned in thought. "Sounds to me like you really cared about her. I can see it in your eyes." The look of surprise on his face told me he hadn't expected me to pick up on that. "I'm sorry you lost her," I said, "How did it happen?"

He blinked a couple of times and his guardian mask popped back into place. "You're very perceptive," he said. "_You _remind me of someone I once knew," he continued, not elaborating.

Sensing he didn't want to divulge anything more I gave him the same look I gave Abe earlier in an attempt to loosen him up. "Please," I said, jutting out my bottom lip.

He smiled, except this time it didn't reach his eyes. "And charming," he added. Before I could respond he continued. "I'll make a deal with you," he said, standing me on my feet before positioning himself on the floor in front of me. I sat down in front of him and waited for him to continue happy that he was willing to stay and talk to me. "You tell me your name and answer my earlier question and I'll tell you a little bit about me," he paused and again adjusted a stand of his shoulder length brown hair. "Agreed?"

Giving him one of my rare full smiles I extended my hand. "I'm Sasha," I said, shaking his large calloused hand. "And I'm three."

His eyes widened a bit at that, but he didn't say anything. I could tell he was one for silence. He didn't feel the need to fill momentary lapses in speech. I was really growing to like him. "It's nice to meet you Sasha." His smile from earlier returning. He looked off into space as if traveling to a different moment in time, but when he turned his attention back to me he began to speak. "As you've already guessed, I'm Russian and I'm a guardian."

I smiled at that. It reminded me of the conversation I had with my mom in her closet. "I'm really good at guessing things," I said.

He arched an eyebrow. "I'm becoming well aware of that," he said, his accent thick. "The woman I spoke of earlier, I loved her," he paused and rethought his statement. "I still love her, but I had to leave," he said. "My continued presence in her life was a complication she didn't need," he was talking more to himself than to me now. "I was trying to protect her…protect her career. She was going to be a great guardian someday and I didn't want to be the reason she didn't become everything she should be and more." His voice was normal, but I could hear the plea underlying his tone. "I couldn't do that to her. If anyone had found out about us…about our relationship…" He looked down at me as if remembering I was there and censored whatever he had been about to say. "Let's just say things wouldn't have been pretty. I didn't have a choice; I had to leave."

"You dated a guardian?" I asked, again my thoughts went back to the conversation I had with my mom while she was packing. "My mom's a guardian," I said.

"Technically speaking she wasn't…" he stopped himself and looked at me for what felt like days. "Yes," he finally said. "I dated a guardian." Remembering what I said he added, "I doubt I dated your mother though." I frowned. "I haven't been in the States a terribly long time," he said kindly.

The frown was still on my face when he said, "I can't believe I just bared my heart to a three year old." There was laughter in his voice and I got the distinct feeling that he didn't laugh that often.

I smiled. "In my defense I'm advanced for my age, so if it makes you feel better you can think of it as baring your heart to a teenager. Plus…a deal is a deal," I said.

This time he really did laugh and it was infectious. I found myself laughing right along with him.

"Dimka," a voice called from down the aisle.

We both looked up. There was a beautiful raven haired Moroi woman walking toward us. Even despite the scare that marred her face, she was still beautiful with eyes like my Uncle Christian.

The guy I had been talking to rose from his spot on the floor and smiled at the woman approaching us. "Tasha," he said, "this is Sasha." The closeness of our names gave him pause. "She's been keeping me company."

Tasha smiled. "It's nice to meet you Sasha," she turned and looked at the guy she had referred to as Dimka. From the Russian Max had taught me I could tell it was a nickname. "She actually looks like you a little bit, Dimka," said Tasha.

"Brown hair and eyes are not that uncommon in Dhampirs," he said, looking at who I presumed was his charge. He confirmed this a second later. "Where is your other guardian," he asked. "Did he grow tired of shopping?" I could tell the two were close.

Tasha placed a hand on her hip. "No," she grew serious. "He left a couple minutes ago with instructions to come find you. There's been an attack Dimka."

She didn't need to expound. We both knew what she meant. The Strigoi had struck.

Dimka's face grew serious and I saw him flip the switch into guardian mode. It was a lot like what I saw my mom do sometimes. "How many?" he asked. "Were there any casualties?" He reached into his floor length coat that I had surprisingly just noticed and rested his hand inside his pocket. He looked as if he could jump into battle this very second, and from the look on his face I had no doubt he could handle any opponent who came his way. I felt completely safe with this man I had only just met.

"No word yet," she said solemnly.

Dimka turned to look at me. "We'll walk you to whomever you came with." His tone left no room for argument.

I nodded in assent and took hold of his hand as he led me in the direction I told him I had last seen Abe. Tasha walked quietly behind us.

When Abe came into view I was happy to see him, but I didn't want to let go of Dimka's hand. Shaking my head I muttered under my breath, "I'm never going to understand Russian nicknames."

I must have spoken loud enough for him to hear because a moment later he said, "It's short for Dimitri."

I smiled up at him and I could see a hint of amusement behind his fierce guardian exterior. When Abe approached us Dimitri let go of my hand and Abe took hold of it.

The fierce look on Dimitri's face never faltered, but there was a bit of surprise evident in his shifting eyes as Abe spoke his next sentence. "Thank you for bringing my granddaughter back safe, Guardian Belikov."

The surprise was fleeting. "Not a problem," he said, addressing Abe formally. To me he was less formal as he handed me my Louis L'Amour book. "It was very nice to meet you Sasha," he said. I extended my hand and his larger one engulfed my smaller one.

"Nice to meet you too, Dimitri," I said.

There was a look in Abe's eyes that I had never seen before, but it was there and gone before I had time to decipher it.

Dimitri gave a curt nod to Abe and each of his guardians before he and Tasha turned to leave the bookstore.

As I watched him leave I had a momentary feeling of being bereft. I dropped the hand that had been waving good-bye and turned to _Zmey_ ready for him to pay for my book.

Rose's Point of View

We were leaving the fourth club tonight and cutting through a side street to get back to our cars when a wave of nausea rolled over me.

I pulled Lissa behind me and reached for my stake faster than the Strigoi who had appeared like magic in front of our path had thought possible. I could tell I had the upper hand because even in this poor lighting I could tell this Strigoi was newly turned and had been Moroi before that. We were also fighting in close quarters and my smaller stature again was a point in my favor.

The Strigoi tried to circle me in an attempt to draw me away from Lissa, but I wasn't falling for that. When she realized this she lunged at me.

Behind me Lissa screamed and I wondered why Christian wasn't lighting this Strigoi up. I didn't have long to ponder it because the Strigoi was on me. She threw a punch at my head that narrowly missed and I threw a kick at her stomach pulling my leg back fast as not to give her a chance to grab it. My strength shocked her, but not enough to halt her attack. Again she threw another punch at me not at all attempting to guard her heart. She was relying on her superior speed and strength, which was poor strategy on her part. After a couple of rounds of her attacking and me dodging I got a line at her heart and plunged my stake in.

As the metal bit into her chest and pierced her heart she screamed out until her eyes went blank.

Only the nausea didn't dissipate and the sounds of battle were still evident behind me.

Turing to make sure Lissa was okay I saw that she and Christian were sandwiched between me, Ryan, Max, and Eddie.

I had been wrong earlier. Christian had been using his magic. Only he had been using it on the Strigoi who had blocked the way we came in. As I took in my surroundings I gasped at the number of Strigoi attacking. There had to be at least ten, and from the gleams of red I saw on the roofs of the buildings surrounding us I would guess there were even more hiding up there. These were impossible numbers.

"Call for backup," I screamed to no one in particular as I turned to face the Strigoi who had materialized in front of me.

He had caught me off guard and smacked me across the face. From the sting of the blow I could tell this one was old. He was also doing a better job at ruining my shot at his heart.

I let my hand holding the stake snake out and drug it across his face. He snarled in rage and threw a punch to my head. Anticipating my dodge he grabbed hold of my neck as if to snap it when his attack faltered. I didn't hesitate. I plunged my stake into this Strigoi's heart too and watched as he hit the ground and the flames around his head went out.

I didn't turn to thank Christian; I lunged at my next attacker.

With the growing amount of Strigoi bodies I found it hard to move around in the confined space. Moving enough to attack but keeping my body positioned in front of the Moroi was growing increasingly difficult.

The Strigoi I was now fighting had no such reservations. He had no one to protect. His movements weren't limited in the way mine were, and he realized this.

He gave me a cold smile making sure to flash me his fangs before he kicked me.

I had nowhere to move and his kick landed on my stomach with the force of a tractor trailer. I flew backward into the wall, but adrenaline and instinct to protect the Moroi—to protect Lissa—kept me moving. I ignored the stars that danced around my head and positioned my stake in line with his heart trying to stay out of the reach of his hands and legs.

He smiled that cold smile again. "If you didn't have them to protect you might fare better in a fight," he said.

It was rare that a Strigoi spoke during battle, but I knew what he was trying to do. He wanted to get in my head and catch me off guard, but I was determined to not let that happen.

I slashed out with my stake in response and he snarled again.

He spoke again. "I'm going to enjoy killing you."

He threw his body at mine and wasted no time in going for my neck. Using one of his strong arms he restrained my hands behind me and brought his mouth down to my neck. I could feel his fangs and I knew I was about to die. Christian was lighting up a couple of Strigoi fighting his guardians and Lissa's Spirit magic would do me no good. I embraced the end I knew was coming and my mind wandered to my daughter.

My daughter who was safe with Abe. Sasha would be okay, she had her grandfather. He would take great care of her when I was gone. She would want for nothing.

As I prepared myself for my untimely demise the Strigoi's hand slackened and he slumped to the ground.

I spun on my heels and noticed another guardian had come onto the scene. Apparently someone had done as I said and called for backup. I had no idea who this newcomer was, but I was grateful to him for saving my life.

As the Strigoi continued to attack we all continued to fight and take them down one by one. If it hadn't been for Christian's fire magic and Mia's water magic we wouldn't have fared so well.

When a few moments passed and we were met with no more attacks and my nausea had settled, I barked out orders for the guardians to get the Moroi to safety.

They followed suit immediately and began filing out of the side street as fast as the Moroi could move.

I had Lissa go with Ryan and Christian's guardians because as the head guardian on this trip I needed to be the last to leave. I had to make sure everyone got out of this safely before I tried to save myself.

When the last guardian left, I followed behind him. From behind it looked like Guardian Jack Dawson, but I couldn't be sure. The only thing that mattered was that when he cleared the entryway I was right behind him.

Until I wasn't.

The nausea rolled through me again just as a wayward Strigoi grabbed me from behind and pulled me to him. He didn't waste any time. He went straight for my neck and I felt his fangs as they pierced my skin. I screamed out in pain, but I couldn't get my stake to do any damage with my back to his front.

Up ahead I saw the others stop and I heard Lissa scream. "Don't stop," I yelled, through the pain. This time I knew I wasn't going to make it. I knew death had finally caught up to me, but I refused to let it take my friends too, especially Lissa. I saw one of the guardians pick Lissa up and throw her over their shoulder and take off running.

_Good_, I thought. _Get her out of here_. My struggling ceased. I had finally been pumped with enough endorphins to assuage the pain and fear. As the blood loss took its toll the last thing I saw before the world went black was a leather duster.

**As always I apologize for any mistakes you may have encountered while reading this chapter. **

**What do you guys think will happen, and what do you want to happen? Let me know in a review. I take you guys' suggestions into consideration. **


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